Free World
by Eccentric Thistle
Summary: Harumi & Kagura adopt a little girl named Nera and a few years later move to Iwatobi. Witness Nera grow up with her family, make new memories, friends and possible fall in love; who knows? P.S: I don't own the series or any of the characters apart from my OCs. This also goes for any other character references and songs being used in the story as well. Enjoy.
1. Chapter 1: Meeting her

Two women stood in front of a building holding hands with each other, and as they looked up the name of the building came into view. "Ishizaki Children's Home" so it was pretty much indicated that the couple were thinking of adopting a child, however one of them was somewhat uncertain about the situation. The other woman tried to comfort her as much as possible.

"Kagura, is there something wrong?" The other woman asked Kagura as her dark blonde hair slightly swayed in the wind.

"Nothing's wrong Harumi. I'm just... I guess I'm just worried that's all." Kagura replied back to Harumi.

"What are you worried about?"

"What if they don't let us adopt one of the kids because of our relationship? I mean we are lesbians for crying out loud and are thinking of adopting a kid. I just hmph..." Kagura was silenced as a small kiss was placed on her lips by her girlfriend.

"You don't need to worry, I told you this before. I mentioned our relationship to the orphanage and everything else included, and they said that they were fine with us adopting. So just stop worrying and take it easy okay." Kagura nodded her head and wiped the tears in her eyes away as Harumi smiled at her. As the couple walked in through the front door they were spotted by someone in the reception office.

"Are you two here to consider adopting or to make an appointment at a later date?" The receptionist asked.

"We have an appointment today to meet the kids today because we are thinking of adopting." Harumi responded.

"Okay then, can I have your names then please?"

"Harumi Suzuha." She then looked over to her girlfriend.

"K-Kagura Ousawa ma'am." Kagura gave to the receptionist.

"Okay so just give me a minute and I'll find someone to see you and take you through to see the children." The couple sat down as the receptionist went off to find someone. It didn't take too long as about two minutes later someone stood in front of Harumi & Kagura.

"Hello there, you two must be Ms. Suzuha and Ms. Ousawa. I'm Mrs. Kamizawa; it's very nice to meet you." She shook both of the couple's hands. "I take you're here considering adoption?"

"Yes we are. It's been a dream of mine to have a kid, however I found out I was infertile and Kagura here is extremely nervous and shy around men of around the same age for some reason. So we figured adoption might be the best option." Harumi stated.

"That's unfortunate to hear, but let's forget about that and let you meet the kids so if you'll please follow me?" Mrs. Kamizawa asked Harumi and Kagura as she led them to one of the many rooms that the children were in. The condition of the children's home was really nice as it catered to pretty much everyone within the different age groups and staff as well. It took about two hours as Harumi and Kagura talked to numerous kids, but none of them felt comfortable about the fact they might have two mothers if they were adopted. The couple were actually just about to leave when they a heard a guitar playing a soft melodic tune, and obviously when the tune got louder the couple could tell they were getting closer. As they went around the next corner, they found a room with only single person inside and the cause of the noise.

There was a young around the age of eight years old wearing a small black dress with an almost ghostly like blue ivory pattern stitched into the dress. She was dancing around with her arms waving about, but they weren't looking like they were just being thrown around. It looked like she might have been a mermaid dancing under the sea or cherry blossoms flying around the trees they were attached to as the wind carried them to where ever; and it was also helped with how her purple hair swayed around in almost the exact same motion. Both Kagura and Harumi were mesmerized at how this young girl was dancing around that they didn't notice Mrs. Kamizawa coming up behind them.

"I take it you two found little Nera?" She asked the couple who surprisingly didn't jump in shock of her sudden appearance. The look on their faces told Mrs. Kamizawa that they wanted to know more about Nera. "It's unfortunate with how she was brought here. Apparently there was some sort domestic abuse issue or it could have been child abuse from I heard when she first came here. However she took to living here quite well surprisingly; she's always helping some of the younger kids at times and some even some of us staff. Nera definitely deserves to have a nice family to look after her, and overall just see her be truly happy." Mrs. Kamizawa said to the couple. However what they failed to notice was Nera had come over and hid behind the door waiting for them to enter when the three saw the room empty. Harumi was the first to notice that the little purple haired girl had somehow disappeared and mentioned it to the others. The couple and caregiver entered the room not seeing little Nera sneaking up behind them and she jumped onto Mrs. Kamizawa's back, scaring the living daylight out of the three adults.

"Here I am Mrs. Kamizawa." Nera said in a very cheeky, but yet cheerful manner. She was put down on the floor and the staff member turned looked at her with nearly all colour removed from her face.

"Nera! How many times have I told you not to do that to me? You how bad I am with people scaring me from nowhere."

"I'm sorry; it's just I saw you talking with them just behind the wall slightly." Nera said while pointing towards Harumi and Kagura. "Who are these two anyway, not meaning to be rude."

"I'm Harumi Suzuha and this is my girlfriend Kagura Ousawa." Harumi introduced herself and Kagura.

"H-Harumi! Did you really have to say that I was your girlfriend in front of her?" Nera was about to speak when Mrs. Kamizawa cut her off.

"Nera you're too nosy for your own good, I swear. I'm really sorry about her." Harumi giggled the comment off and Kagura smiled.

"It's completely fine, do you mind if we talk to you for a little bit Nera?" Harumi asked the little purple haired girl. She simply smiled and nodded. Mrs. Kamizawa left the three alone in the room for a bit so they could talk.

"So what do you like to do Nera?" Harumi asked as they all sat cross legged on the floor.

"Well let's see… I like to dance, make my own clothes and cosplay sometimes; but what I really love is being able to swim underwater." Nera answered back. The answer slightly caught the two girlfriends off guard for some reason, but they just pushed back in their minds.

"Yeah we figured you like to dance since we kind of saw you earlier. Making costumes and clothes seems fun; in fact did you make that dress yourself?" Kagura asked this time and once again, Nera nodded her head. "Wow! That's really impressive. The fact you were able to make such a nice dress by yourself is amazing; but why do you like being under the water Nera?" It took about a minute for Nera to come up with an answer for the two.

"I guess it's because I feel like I'm at home underwater. Just being able to be in another world is just so exciting to me, but I do some times get into trouble from time to time."

"Why is that?" Harumi asked.

"It's because I want to stay down there longer than I'm supposed to; and then I get yelled at by the staff. I know they worry about me, but I… I just want to be under for as long as I want to be." The explanation surprised Harumi and Kagura as in fact they could somehow relate to Nera. That's because from time to time they would go snorkeling and free diving when they had the chance. It was actually because of that that the two actually became lovers with one another. A thought then came over Harumi; she then explained it to Kagura who seemed to agree with her.

"Hey Nera, Me and Kagura are wondering if you would like to go swimming with us tomorrow. We were planning on going to the beach and do a bit of diving and snorkelling and maybe if you like to you can join us." Nera's eyes figuratively lit up at what she was just asked. It was also a good chance to see if Harumi and Kagura would consider adopting her after the day out.

"Do you really mean it; I can go swimming with you?" Nera asked backed with excitement in her voice.

"Only if you'll listen to us and don't do anything too reckless, understood." Harumi told Nera who nodded in excitement. She looked next to her girlfriend who was also smiling but soon stood up as did she. "Okay then, we're going to go ask Mrs. Kamizawa if it is fine to take you out for the day." Harumi said as she left the room with Kagura holding her hand and Nera behind them. They soon found the carer and asked about the situation and she seemed to be all right with it. Nera at this point was jumping for joy as she could spend a day at the beach. The couple then told Mrs. Kamizawa after Nera had ran off somewhere about they were strongly interested in adopting Nera as their daughter, and needless to say Mrs. Kamizawa's smile grew a bit bigger at the news. It was nearly approaching night and the couple said their goodbyes to the staff, children and Nera; and they also told Nera when they would be picking her up. As they got to their car they couldn't help but think about little Nera as their possible daughter as they drove of home.

The next day Kagura was the first one to wake up, and it was quite early surprisingly. When she looked at the digital clock on the nightstand next to her' and Harumi's bed; it showed that it was seven in the morning and it was a Saturday. Kagura looked over at the dark blonde haired girl that sprawled out on the bed as soon as she woke up. It really made her question Harumi at times but also made remember how cute she could be. 'Is she really an actual adult; or is she a little kid in disguise.' Kagura thought to herself, but soon discarded those thoughts as she gently kissed Harumi.

"Harumi, its seven o'clock time to get up." She whispered to the dark blonde.

"Can I not have just ten more minutes please? It's Saturday for crying out loud." Harumi groaned back to the brunette.

"No you can't and remember what we're supposed to be doing today. We are supposed to be going to the beach and taking Nera from the children's home with us."

"Okay…okay I'm up. Anyway what time do we have to leave at?"

"Well seeing as how it's a two hour drive to get there. I was thinking around eight to eight-thirty to go a pick up Nera, is that fine with you?" All Kagura got for a slight response was a light groan from Harumi as she was strongly intending to sleep in a little bit longer. "Seriously Harumi in most situations you're the one that takes care of things, but when it comes to getting up then that is whole other story. I mean it's like you've gone back to being seventeen again." There was no response and she had enough. Kagura pounced on Harumi and began tickling her much to her displeasure and Kagura's amusement. After everything died and the couple were properly awake they managed to have breakfast, get cleaned up and pack the things they would need for the trip. It consisted of the main things like a swimsuit, sun cream, towel and their masks, snorkels and fins as well; packed everything into their car and drove off to the children's home to pick up Nera.

When the couple parked up in front of the children's home they immediately spotted Nera in one of the windows looking out for them. It was needless to say how excited Nera was to go swim and get out of the home for a while. Kagura and Harumi walked in and once again met with Mrs. Kamizawa. After discussing some important issues and waiting on Nera making sure she everything she needed the couple finally met up with the little purpled haired girl once again.

"Hello Nera, I see you're really excited." Harumi said while the little girl nodded in a very excited motion. "Before we head off for the beach I want to know if you have everything you need with you okay?" Harumi asked her. Nera showed the couple her bag almost as if they should look for themselves and it did indeed contain what she would need; swimsuit, towel and a mask as well. As they said their goodbye for the day Nera immediately ran off to the car making Harumi and Kagura smile and giggle slightly at her eagerness. They strapped themselves in and drove off towards the beach. A good while into the trip and Nera had fallen asleep in the back seat while Kagura smiled at her and Harumi continued on driving. After driving for two hours they had at beach and Harumi was the only one up. She flicked her finger on Kagura's forehead and she instantly woke up.

"Looks like the roles have been reversed haven't they." Harumi asked Kagura while she retaliated with a cold glare. However it was immediately broken as Nera began to stir as she finally woke up as well.

"Mm...Are we at the beach yet?" The little purple haired girl asked groggily as she tried to re-awake herself.

"Yes we are, just take a long out of the window." Kagura told the little girl. She did just and the view had already made her day. All Nera saw was blue calm water, sand and not a single cloud in the sky. There were already a few groups of people at the beach but not to the point that it was considered jam packed. The three got out of the car and little Nera instantly ran off trying to find the changing rooms. Her head looking around in so many directions like a Meer cat much to the hilarity of Harumi and Kagura.

"Will you just hold on a second Nera, We'll take you, but just try and relax a little?" Kagura asked trying to stifle her laughter while Harumi couldn't contain herself.

"Sorry about that." Nera then held out her hand waiting for Kagura to hold it. As soon as the brunette held Nera's right hand, she felt her left being grabbed. She turned and looked to say Harumi holding at. Smiling at the feeling of enjoyment the three went off towards the changing rooms that were on the pavement behind the beach. Soon enough they came out dressed in their swimsuits with everything else and ready to swim. Harumi was a black and white bikini while Kagura wore a dark red one piece that some revealing parts along the ribcage. Nera was wearing a bright blue one piece swimsuit with white stripes on the side. After finding a good spot on the beach the three prepared to go into the water, but not without laying some ground rules for Nera. She couldn't go off by herself in the water without someone being with her. If she was running out of air in her lungs, then she would have to come up instead of being tempted to stay down longer, and most importantly. Nera could only swim in her comfort zone and not push herself too much. After agreeing to those rules Kagura went off to rent a set of fins for Nera; it didn't take her very long and after everyone was ready, they hit the water.

Watching Nera swim about made the couple very nervous, but at the same time very happy letting enjoying swimming about. They were quite surprised at how long Nera could hold her breath for only being eight years old. They did stop for a bit to grab something to eat in a small café and while Nera ran off to the bathroom, Kagura and Harumi talked about the important issue in their minds.

"Do you really think we should adopt Nera, Harumi?" Kagura asked her girlfriend.

"I honestly think we should. After talking to her and spending some time with her, she's just a diamond and she deserves to have a family. I really do believe that we could look after her. We do have jobs and a stable life so it could work." Harumi gave her opinion. She rubber her thumb over the brunette's hand as they looked into each others eyes and were about to kiss; that was until Nera came back from the bathroom.

"Can we go back into the water please?" She slightly begged.

"We should wait a little bit longer. I mean we don't want anyone let alone you being sick now." Harumi told the purple haired girl in a caring manner. Nera pouted for a second but it was soon replaced by the smile that the couple had already gotten used to, and they had only known her for a day and a half. After a while they went back into the water for a little bit longer before drying off, changing back into their clothes and driving back home. After yet another two hours on the road the car pulled up in front of the children's home and Kagura and Harumi took Nera inside. As soon as Nera ran off to play with some of the younger kids the couple went to find Mrs. Kamizawa which didn't take long at all.

"Oh welcome back you two, I take it you had a nice day with Nera?"

"We really enjoyed ourselves. Spending time with Nera was really fun and during a portion of the day we discussed something and came to an agreement." Harumi said and Mrs. Kamizawa's eyes widen realising what she was talking about.

"W-W-Wait a minute here, are you saying you want to…"

"Yes, we want to adopt Nera as our daughter." Kagura said as tears were starting to appear in all three of the women's eyes.

"Oh my god I am so happy you've made this decision." Mrs. Kamizawa congratulated the couple as the hugged the both of them.

"What's going on, why are you all crying? Did something bad happen?" Nera asked as they all turned to look at her and Mrs. Kamizawa knelt down looking at Nera.

"Oh it's far from that sweetie. Something wonderful has happened." Mrs. Kamizawa smiled as Harumi and Kagura knelt down next to her.

"Nera, me and Kagura thought about something and after spending the day with you; we've decided that we like you to become our daughter if you'll accept us." Harumi told the small girl as her eyes widen.

"Do you really mean it? You want me to go home with you two?" She asked and all she got for a response was a nod of the head meaning yes they would. Nera threw herself at Harumi and Kagura and started crying out of pure joy knowing that she would finally have a family. "Thank you, Thank you so much." Nera cried out while they all stood up with Kagura holding Nera's hand.

"Okay then let's get this paperwork sorted out. You will have to wait for bit unfortunately, but it won't be for long though. Nera you've had a tiring day so why don't go and take a bath or shower while sort this stuff okay?" Nera immediately ran off towards the bathroom before getting ready for bed. After all the paper work was sorted out Harumi and Kagura went to wish goodnight to Nera and promised her that they would hopefully be back in a couple of days to take her to her new home and soon enough they left as well. After a week the adoption became official and Harumi and Kagura were now Nera's parents. They thought it would be weird for Nera having two mothers, but she didn't seem to mind all that stuff. They packed all of Nera's belongings in the car and just before they left Nera went to say goodbye to everyone, but promised along with her new parents that they would come by once in a while to visit everyone and at least try to keep in contact. The new family got in the car, put their seat belts on and Harumi asked her new daughter a question.

"You ready to head to your new home Nera?" She asked smiling.

"I'm ready to go home Mum, Mommy." Nera replied smiling at her new parents as they waved back at everyone and drove of home.

* * *

 **A/N Author's Note:** Yes I am doing one. I'm doing a fanfic in this series, but only because of some things. Some of characters are actually interesting, good back story at times and I figured to try and do something a little bit different for me and try and push my creativity (a.k.a My actual insanity. Joking of course). There maybe some changes in what rating the story could be going forward and no! I haven't forgotten about my other stories. I'm currently writing up the next chapter of Asuna's Secret and are trying to figure the next chapter for Sonic and the Labyrinth of Magic as well. Anyways, I hope you will this story. Please only positive reviews and constructive criticism only, no negativity and all that crap and thank you once again.

 **BVBwillow**


	2. Chapter 2: Proposal

Years had gone by and the family that was made of Harumi, Kagura and Nera had made a lot of fond memories together. Both Harumi and Kagura had graduated from university a year after they had adopted Nera. Harumi had managed to earn a diploma in photography while Kagura got a bachelor's degree in finances. Just before Nera had turned fourteen Harumi had pulled Nera into her room and told Nera to keep a secret.

-Flashback-

"Mum, why did you want to talk to me? You know I've got a little bit of homework left and I just want to finish it so I can get more work done on my new cosplay." Nera said and over her life with her new parents she gotten better at making her cosplays. She would always try to make them as detailed as possible and it helped with having a parent that works in photography; so at times if it was possible she would ask her mum Harumi to possible do a photo shoot with her. However for Nera the main reason she cosplayed was just out of pure enjoyment of getting to become a certain character for an amount of time. Nera had seen a smile grow on her mum Harumi's face and was even more curious as to what she needed Nera to keep a secret.

"I'm really sorry Nera but I can't wait to tell you anymore, but you have to do me one favour and that is to keep this discussion a secret okay?" Harumi asked her daughter who nodded her head. She went to a small table that was in her room and pulled something out. In her hand was a small box and when she opened it; it was revealed that a small diamond ring sat inside the box. Nera questioned it for a second, but was soon able to put two and two together and realised why Harumi had the ring.

"Mum! A-Are…Are you going to…?" The words stumbled out of Nera's mouth.

"Yeah, I'm going to ask your mother Kagura to marry me." Harumi said with tears of joy in her eyes and a huge smile on her face, since she was year older than Kagura. Nera just lunged at Harumi and almost hugged her to death. Harumi could feel her shirt being soaked by Nera's tears, but she didn't mind it because it brought back the memories of when she and Kagura had adopted Nera and how happy all three were when that happened. "I take it you're happy with this?" Nera just laughed out loud with that question.

"Are you kidding me Mum? Of course I'm happy with you and Mom getting married." Nera let go of her mum Harumi and started jumping up and down with excitement, but then also began to feel nervous about not being able to tell her mother Kagura. "Oh god, oh god, oh god… I don't know if I can keep this a secret from her for long though Mum." She told her mum Harumi.

"Don't worry about it Nera, you won't have to keep it from her for long." Nera looked slightly confused about what her mum was talking about now. "You know how were going on a trip to Okinawa in two weeks right, well I'm going to propose to her there. So promise me that you'll try your best and not tell her, I want to make this…" Harumi stopped when she heard a car pull up and out came Kagura. She rushed about her room putting the ring away and gently ushering Nera out of her and Kagura's room making sure that her promise was going to be kept.

~Two weeks later~

"Are you sure you have everything packed Nera?" Kagura asked her purple haired daughter.

"Yes Mom and before you ask, I did double check. I've got my clothes for the trip, towels, swimsuit, swim guard if necessary; mask, snorkel, fins and let's not forget my passport so yes Mom, I have everything I need." Nera said as came down the stairs watching both of her parents run around trying to get every other detail sorted out. During the commotion Harumi signalled to Nera that she had the ring with and it was only going to be a matter of time before 'the question' came out. As the family finally put all their stuff in the car, they buckled up and drove off to the airport in order to get to Okinawa.

After checking and flying over to Okinawa after around two hours, the family arrived at the airport, claimed their belongings, grabbed a taxi and arrived at the hotel where they would be staying at for the next week. As soon as they got to the hotel Nera of course wanted to immediately hit the water, but seeing as how jetlag was coming into effect not only for herself but her parents that would have to wait for another time. As the next few days flew buy Nera kept worrying about not being able to keep her mum's proposal secret. She was wondering at how she was having more trouble not telling her mom Kagura about what her dark blonde haired mother was planning than Harumi was.

The day soon came and Harumi had planned the scenario out very carefully; but the night before, she snuck off into her daughter's room and told her about the plan. They all woke up excited about going one of the less known diving spots in Okinawa, which was kind of hard to find since Okinawa was so well known for its swimming and diving spots. They each wore their swimsuits under their clothes and had packed everything they would need for the trip, while Harumi took the ring and hid it from her girlfriend and hopefully soon to be wife. After having lunch at a local café they travelled down to the spot by taxi and prepared to get ready. Harumi revealed her swimsuit which was a thick black material bikini and so did Kagura who revealed a yellow bikini. Nera on the other revealed she was wearing a black and blue one piece with a zipper in the front, but the thing with the swimsuit is that she made it by herself. A while ago Nera had went fabric shopping to look for some fabrics and materials for a potential when she came across a bunch of neoprene fabrics in different colours, and seeing how blue was her favourite colour she went a bought some along with some black neoprene fabric to balance it out. It took about two to three weeks to complete it, but when it was done she was satisfied with the results or her work. Donning their mask and snorkels the family walked into the water waited until they was above their waist to put on their fins, all the while Harumi hid the ring in the top part of her bikini hence why her swimsuit was a bit more thicker than to what she usually wore when she was in the water.

While swimming around Harumi kept looking around for the perfect spot to put her plan into action. After a while she found the perfect coral reef where she could hide the ring for a second and bring Kagura and Nera to. Harumi signalled the brunette woman and purple up to the surface to tell them what she 'found', but during the rise to the surface she gave Nera a special signal showing that it was about to happen and the family soon broke the surface replacing the air in their lungs.

"I think I just found something down there. We should go have a look." Harumi stated as her soon hopefully soon to be wife questionably looked at her while their daughter tried to hide her excitement.

"What did you exactly find down there Harumi?" Kagura asked the older dark blonde who seemed to have some sort of glint in her eyes as she looked at her.

"It was kind of hard to tell so it might be better if we all went down to have a look." Kagura looked next to Nera as she was adjusting her mask and same was happening with Harumi. Harumi was starting to get slightly nervous now and she looking back at Kagura as the ends of her brunette hair floated and swayed around in the calm waters. "Kagura, is there something wrong?" Kagura simply shook her head and put her own mask back on. "Okay then, if everyone's ready I lead the way." After taking a couple of deep breaths all three dove down and followed Harumi as she led the way to the coral reef and ring. When they got down to the reef Harumi motioned to Kagura and Nera to look at the lower part of the reef and as they did, it gave Harumi the perfect opportunity to the grab the box the ring was in. When Nera and her mother looked back at her other mum she was motioning to the surface and as they ascended the smile was starting to grow on the purple haired girl's face and soon broke the surface once again and place the mask on the crown of the heads.

"Did you actually find something down there?" Kagura asked; it was now time to ask the question.

"Yeah I did but before I show you what it is, I want to say something to you." Kagura's eyebrows rose up out of curiosity. "You know how much I love you right? I mean we've together for years and known each other for little bit longer. We've always had some sort of connection and ironically, it was when we graduated from high school and went free diving the weekend after that is when I asked you if you wanted to be my girlfriend; and you said yes almost immediately. Also now that we have Nera in our little family I guessed I want to make our connection even more solid than before." Tears were starting appear in all three of the eyes with Kagura having the most trouble keeping them from running down her face. "So being out here in the water and Nera with us, I figured it was time I asked you another question." Harumi brought her hands out of the water showing the small box and opening it revealing the small diamond ring within it. Kagura's eyes had widen beyond belief at this point realising what was going on; looking back at Nera who's smile could quite figuratively warm anyone's heart. "Kagura Ousawa, will you marry me?" Harumi finally asked the question she had waited for years to ask Kagura while their daughter Nera looked on.

"H-Harumi…y-y-yes, of course I'll marry you." Kagura answered much to the delight of her soon to be wife and daughter. The ring was slipped onto her finger and the couple shared a loving yet kiss. Nera swam over and hugged her parents so much that they almost accidentally dipped down under the surface of the water. "Thank you Harumi, thank you so much and you too Nera. However I do think we should head back to the hotel now."

"Only after one more dive honey." Harumi said to Kagura as she held her hands. Kagura simply nodded and the family put their masks back on for one more dive before heading. As they dived down the couple held hands while Nera swam just underneath them. They stayed for about two and half minutes taking in the underwater scenery one last time before surfacing and heading back and a few days later, the soon to be wedded couple and the daughter returned home.

-Flashback ends and a few days later-

"Are you actually being serious, we're moving?" Nera asked both her parents.

"We didn't mean to upset you but yes, we are moving." Kagura answered Nera's question.

"Does it also include me going to a new high school?"

"I would probably imagine so." Nera's reaction caught both Harumi and Kagura off guard as she jumped up and started chanting yes a couple of times. "Why are you happy about that? Wouldn't the fact of not being able spend more time with your friends at school not upset you?" Harumi asked Nera this time.

"Not really because everyone already their little groups and cliques and nobody wanted me to join them even if I asked nicely. So where are we moving to anyway?"

"It's not far from here actually. About an hour by car and forty minutes by train and this part I know you'll love Nera. It's a seaside town called Iwatobi." The moment Harumi said those words to Nera; it almost seemed like time stopped. Nera just turned around and walked out of the room. Harumi and Kagura began to wonder what their purple haired daughter was doing; until they heard her screaming for joy, running back through and attack hugging the both of them at the same time. _"I take it she sounds happy with this."_ Harumi thought to herself as she looked at Kagura who was probably thinking the same thing as well.

"Okay so when are we leaving then?" Nera asked her parents as Kagura smiled, while Harumi was having trouble trying to hide her laughter.

"We're going to be leaving in a month's time and we are sorry about this; but we did already enroll you into a new high school when we arrive in Iwatobi. They fine with you missing the first few days though just with unpacking, organizing and figuring out your way around." Kagura said. _"Although I'm pretty sure that when we get there, the first thing she's going to want to do is find the beach and go diving."_ Kagura thought to herself which made her giggle a bit. Nera let go and immediately ran upstairs to her room.

"I'm betting you she already started to try and organizing her things so packing will be easier." Harumi told Kagura while she seemed to gain control of herself after almost losing it earlier.

"I'll go find out, give me a second." Kagura stood at the bottom of the stairs and shouted upstairs. "Nera, what are doing up there?"

"I'm getting a start on packing." Harumi heard that and just started laughing after trying to compose herself while Kagura giggled some more. She walked up to the dark blonde and gave her a small kiss

"I guess we should get a start on as well." Kagura said as she held her wife's hands. They soon went up to their bedroom and began packing small things while ordering a takeaway for a dinner. The next few weeks were hectic as the family was organising everything they had into boxes and having dropping them off at the new house; but when they were dropping off the boxes, it was only Harumi and Kagura that went. They figured it would be better this way as they wanted to somewhat surprise Nera with the house and where it was situated. Soon enough Nera left her old school and waited for the day they would officially arrive in Iwatobi.

The day their family would move to Iwatobi soon arrived and after packing the blow up mattresses and sleeping bags in the car, Nera was just standing in the small empty house by herself. She kept thinking about all the memories she and her parents had made in the house, but Nera knew that those would always be with her as the empty house was nothing more than what it was, an empty house. Walking out to the car she took one last look at the house, but any thoughts were quickly erased by her eagerness to get to Iwatobi. Putting her seat belt on Nera looked at her parents who felt like they wanted to get going as well.

"LET'S GET THE HELL OUT OF HERE!" All three of them shouted as they drove off towards their house and life experiences; however there was a problem as there is with anything and this was something called traffic. What was supposed to take only an hour had turned into a two-three hour drive because of the sheer amount of traffic. Eventually though they had arrived in Iwatobi and Nera was instantly captivated at how the water look as the sun that was just beginning to set glistened on the surface of the water. All Nera wanted to do was dive under and feel that welcoming to that strange almost alien like world once again; but that would have to wait for another time, much to her dismay but also excitement as well and especially when the family arrived at their new home.

* * *

 **A/N Author's Note:** Stating the complete obvious, a new chapter is up matey boy. With this one I wanted to give a bit more info on the family. I will be doing maybe 1 or 2 more mainly flashback chapters like this in the future as well just for further notice. If you're wondering when the main cast are getting introduced then don't worry; they'll be brought in the next chapter and hopefully in a interesting way that you lot will like. Also like I said last time there maybe a change in the rating of the story later on, but it depends on how it always positive reviews and constructive criticism only please and thank you once again.

 **BVBwillow**


	3. Chapter 3: First day of school

As morning rolled around in the town of Iwatobi, two separate alarm clocks went in the Suzuha household. One had woken up one half of the couple that were sleeping in that bedroom; while the other clock had stirred the purple haired daughter enough to wake her up. She opened up the curtains in her bedroom only to be blinded the sun that was rising higher and higher into the sky, but also only to remember what today was as she stared outside. Nera would be starting at her new high school 'Iwatobi High'. However there was a problem and it was that her parents had accidentally forgotten to pick up a school uniform for Nera, so it seemed that just for today she would wear her casual clothes to school. Walking out of her new room and towards the bathroom Nera heard another door open and out came one of her mother's Kagura whose dark brunette hair looked slightly tangled in itself just like Nera's purple hair was but worse.

"Morning Mom."

"Good morning sweetheart, how'd you sleep last night?"

"I slept pretty well, but I guess that was thanks to my sleeping music playlist. I'm actually really excited about starting school today."

"That's good to hear and sorry again about not getting you a uniform but you should be able to pick one up at the school I would assume." Kagura said while she and Nera were cleaning themselves up.

"Is mum still asleep?" Nera asked her mom. She and her mom Kagura went into Kagura and Harumi's bedroom and saw that the dirty blonde haired woman was still asleep and even more sprawled out on the bed than before. Before Kagura could even say anything Nera grabbed a pillow and slammed it onto her mum's face while Kagura was giggling away while still trying to look serious, which didn't work at all.

Harumi finally rose up after getting a pillow smashed into her face and saw that it was Nera holding it. "Did you just… Why did you wake me up by hitting me with a pillow Nera?" Harumi asked being agitated from being woken up in such a horrible fashion to her, but funny to her wife and daughter. Seeing as how they were distracted momentarily with each other Harumi grabbed a pillow of her own and threw it; only for it to crash into her wife Kagura's face instead of the real culprit Nera. "Oh god… I am so sorry Kagura. I wasn't aiming for you I swear, I was going for…" Harumi was silenced when that same pillow came back and crashed into her face only with Kagura holding onto it and continuously hitting Harumi with it.

"Pillow fight!" Nera shouted as she joined in the fray and everyone kept throwing pillows at one another until a minute later when the pillow fighting stopped. Everyone was to regain their composure but that fell apart when Nera started laughing and was soon followed by her parents. Harumi cleaned herself and got dressed as did Kagura and Nera. Harumi wore a plain black t-shirt with a white short sleeved open button shirt on top; along with black trousers and white vans slip on shoes and her long dirty blonde hair was left loose as it fell to her upper back. Kagura was in a full business suit that was dark blue almost going black with a white button shirt as well and had her brunette hair tied up in a low ponytail. Nera was wearing a sort of space whirlpool design t-shirt under a black long sleeve cardigan, she was also wearing dark blue jeans and black and blue high top vans; Nera also had a piercing in her left ear which was a black and white feather connected to two beads that went to her ear.

The family sat down in the kitchen having some breakfast with the radio playing in the background and the couple couldn't help but notice Nera's jitteriness as she was trying to calm herself down.

"Are you feeling okay Nera?" Harumi asked Nera.

"I'm fine mum; I'm just nervous about my first day."

"Why's that sweetheart, it's just high school." Kagura said to her daughter.

"That's the thing Mom its high school. I'm sure you had problems when you and Mum were there. I'm just worried about how everyone else is going to react to me." Seeing as how this was troubling Nera since it was she still very early into her 1st year of high school and had already missed a week, Harumi and Kagura were both trying to think of something to make her feel better and it didn't take long for them to figure something out. Smiling at each other Harumi went to reveal what they would have planned for Nera.

"How about this Nera, if you can try and have a good first day at school; I'll go free diving with you when you get back from school since I'll be back home by then." Harumi said which lit Nera up like a lightbulb.

"Are you serious Mum? We can do diving?"

"Only if you can try and make your first day school good okay?" Nera leaped at her mum hugging and thanking her, whilst Kagura smiled at the scene only to be hugged by Nera moments later. "Okay we better be heading off for work and you better start heading for school." Sure enough Nera picked up her bag and just as she was about to leave, she was interrupted by one more little thing. "And please make sure you pick up a school uniform today. I already informed the school about your situation today and they're okay with this, but only for today Nera." Kagura told her daughter.

"Sure thing Mom, see you later bye." Nera shut the door and began walking to school. A few minutes Harumi and Kagura left together and once they reached the city, they separated and went to their respected jobs.

Along the way to school Nera had been on the receiving end of one or two stares, but apart from that there was nothing troublesome. However there was something weird. Walking by the beach not far from her house she saw two male students walking together but one of them was acting very strangely. The young man in question had black hair and seemed like he was trying to head for the water, but every time he tried the person next to him who had somewhat olive brown coloured hair kept pulling him back much to the chagrin of his possible friend. Nera knew of the feeling of being surrounded by the water but maybe not to the extent of the young male teen in question. Soon enough though Nera had reached the school, walked inside the building and immediately went off trying to find the office. It wasn't surprisingly hard to find much to the delight of Nera who looked through the office window and soon came into view of a staff member that was a woman who might have been in her late thirties to early forties.

"Is there something I can help you with dear?" The woman asked Nera.

"Uh yes I'm actually starting today and was hoping if you possibly print me a copy of my timetable?" Nera asked back.

"No problem at all, I just need your name sweetheart?"

"It's Nera Suzuha miss." It took a few seconds for the woman to find Nera's timetable.

"Here we are, it appears that you're a new student here."

"Yes, me and my family had moved to Iwatobi last week and everything has just been really crazy trying to get comfortable. Oh also… Is it possible that you have any 1st year girl uniforms? With everything that's been going on my parents forgot to get me a uniform." Nera giggled at herself.

"Don't worry about it dear, we do have some uniforms in storage but I don't if there any 1st year girl uniforms. How about you come back at the end of the day and we might have one for you then okay." Nera nodded understandingly. "All right then, let's print out your timetable and before I forget; my name is Mrs. Takiyuka and it is very nice to meet you Nera." Mrs Tanawaka said as she went to the printer and grabbed Nera's timetable handing it over to Nera. "Okay so your first class is homeroom and the room is just down the hallway, take a right and it will be the second door on the right."

"Thank you very much Mrs. Takiyuka, see you at the end of the day." Nera said smiling as she left for her first class in her high school. Following the directions given to her she was able to make it to class just before it began, but the teacher was already in the classroom waiting for other students and turned to face Nera.

"You must be the new student in my class, I'm Mr. Tsukishima and I'll be your homeroom teacher and you don't have to worry; I was already informed about your uniform situation." Tsukishima said as he shook Nera's hand. "I hope you don't mind but I'd rather you would wait until all the other students come in so you can introduce yourself then if you don't mind."

"That's not a problem at all Mr. Tsukishima." Nera replied back and after a good five minutes or so the homeroom class was filled with its students. Nera wasn't surprised that they were already staring at her, probably because she wasn't wearing the uniform.

"All right class, now as I'm pretty sure you've noticed by now we have a student joining us. Would care as to introduce yourself Ms." Mr. Tsukishima asked Nera. She wrote her name of the board and turned around to face the others once more.

"Hello, my name is Nera Suzuha. I'm sixteen years old and my hobbies mainly consist of spending with my parents, cosplaying and swimming underwater aka free diving. I hope you'll enjoy having me in your class." Nera introduced herself as everyone continued to stare, but Nera wasn't bothered at all apart from two stares she was receiving. One was from a girl with close to burgundy hair and similar coloured eyes, and her stare was seemingly one of intrigue. The other was from another girl with turquoise hair and green emerald eyes, but her stare was almost one of that of a plea to stay which caught Nera's attention and interest a bit. She figured that she find out the girl's story soon enough though as she took her seat at the back of the classroom and soon everything returned to normal and class started.

During the day Nera had a number of people coming up to her. Although the majority of them were boys who were trying to flirt with Nera but she was having none of them. Every once in a while she would spot the turquoise haired girl who was in her homeroom. It looked like she wanted to talk to Nera but any confidence would be shattered as soon as Nera would almost look at her and she would run off and cry to herself. When it was time for lunch Nera decided to head up to the school roof to eat not thinking that anyone would be up there. Nera opened the door expecting to see a complete empty space, but instead she found four boys and a girl with burgundy hair. _'Wait is that the same girl from my homeroom class?'_ Nera mentally asked herself completely unaware that the girl in question was coming up to her.

"You're that new girl in my homeroom aren't you, Nera Suzuha right?" The girl asked Nera which made her jump from not paying any attention.

"S-sorry about that but yeah, I'm Nera Suzuha. What's your name again?" Nera asked as she had not paid any attention to most people in her classes so far.

"My name is Kou Matsuoka; it's nice to meet you." Kou put her hand out and shook Nera's hand.

"It's actually Gou!" A young blonde boy shouted out which pissed the actual named Gou off.

"How many times do I have to tell you? Call me "Kou" Nagisa!" Gou shouted at the blonde whose name was Nagisa as the others sitting next to him apart from one shook their heads as Nera looked at them. One had dark blue hair, red frame glasses on to help his purple eyes see well. Another boy had bright emerald green eyes along with olive brown hair. What made him stand out however was his height when he stood up. Finally there was the other boy and he had black hair along with blue eyes. His facial expression was that of him not caring about anything at all. "Sorry about Nera, so do you want to join us for lunch?" Gou asked Nera.

"U-um… sure I guess, but what do I call you Gou or Kou?" Nera asked nervously in case she suffered the same wrath as Nagisa.

"Call me Kou please but anyway come on over." Kou told Nera as she led the purple haired girl over to the group. Sitting down Gou introduced Nera to the boys. "Guys this is Nera Suzuha. She's new here and she's in my homeroom class."

"It's nice to meet all you." Nera said slightly shy but was soon scared suddenly when Nagisa got face to face with her.

"I'm Nagisa Hazuki! It's nice to meet you…" Nagisa was interrupted when the boy with the glasses pulled him back.

"Nagisa how many times do we have to tell you? You don't get in people's faces like that; it might freak them out. Anyway sorry about him I'm Rei Ryugazaki, it's a pleasure to meet you." Rei introduced himself as he adjusted his glasses.

"I'm Makoto Tachibana; nice to meet you Nera." Makoto introduced himself and Nera waited for the other boy to introduce himself, but instead got nothing but silence. "He's Haruka Nanase, don't worry about him though. Haruka is actually quite friendly even though he doesn't talk much." Makoto introduced Haruka on his behalf.

"It's nice to meet you all, but I hope you don't mind me saying that it's quite strange that you all somehow have girl's names and Kou here actually has a boy's name." Nera said as it wasn't much of a shocker to the group.

"Don't worry about it we get it all the time. So anyway what do you like to do Nera?" Makoto asked Nera.

"Well from time to time I like to dance; spending time with my parents is something I love. Cosplaying is something else and I love being under the water free diving." Nera told everyone but when she told them that she free dived, everyone's interest was piqued and Nagisa once again got in Nera's face. Before he could say anything however both Gou and Rei pulled him back much to his dismay and shockingly to Nera, Haruka actually shown some interest in what she was saying. "What, did I say something silly?" Nera asked everyone.

"You free dive Nera?" Makoto asked the purple haired girl?

"Yup, I've been doing since I first went into the water. Something always interested about that world under the water's surface; so I decided to take up free diving and I got to do it even more with my parents. It's just amazing being underwater." Nera told everyone as they stared at her.

"That… That was just a beautiful explanation." Rei said as he did some weird pose which made Nera mentally question him.

"Are you okay Rei, because was just weird." As soon as those words were said Rei just fell to the ground deflated. Nera wanted to check on him but Makoto stopped her.

"Don't worry about him. He does have a strange thing about true beauty of something. So anyway since you free dive how long can you hold your breath?"

"If I lying down on the ground training myself then around five minutes and thirty seconds, however if I'm diving around in the water then roughly three and a half to four minutes underwater." Nera stated which seemed to shock Gou.

"You can spend that long underwater. I thought you would've drowned after that amount of time." Gou said slightly shocked.

"I've never had any problems with free diving at all, even if I dive by myself."

"Well if you're interested then why don't join us in the swim club?" Makoto asked Nera.

"Swim club?"

"Yeah, I swim backstroke, Nagisa swims breaststroke, Rei swims butterfly and lastly Haru here swims free. Gou meanwhile is the manager so what do you say. You want to join?" Makoto asked the purple haired free diver, but before Nera could answer a commotion rose up in the courtyard. As the swim club and Nera looked on, Nera spotted the turquoise haired girl being bullied by a number of other students bit boys and girls. Nera couldn't stand to see this happening and instinctively she ran down the stairs and towards the commotion as the swim club followed her, but instead were trying to stop her since they knew the group in question.

Nera soon entered the courtyard and saw the large group of students recording the bullying as they watched it. She couldn't take it anymore and rushed in only to be pulled back by Haruka and Makoto.

"What are you doing, I need to help that girl!" Nera shouted.

"Trust us Nera, that group are people you don't mess with their business. This is their last year, but they said they were going to make it as "memorable" as possible, so it's better if you try and keep far away from them as possible." Makoto told Nera whose face contorted with horror.

"Well can you at least tell who the girl?" Nera asked concerned about the girl.

"She went to the same middle school as me." Gou said as Nera turned to look at her. "Her name is Hikari Kazamoto. Before halfway through our last year of middle school Hikari used to smile every day and was always full of life, but then her father got into an accident and died. Apparently there are issues between her and her mom but I think that's just rumours." Gou explained to Nera as teachers finally came out and ordered everyone to leave. Nera being caring went up to Hikari and extended her hand out.

"Here let me help you." Nera pulled Hikari up to her feet but she was still feeling the effects. Even though it wasn't physical as it was mentally and emotionally, Hikari was still hurt. "Let's go take you to see the nurse." Almost immediately Hikari pushed Nera away with fear in her eyes and ran off in tears yet again. "Hey wait a…minute." Nera stood there as Hikari disappeared but was soon brought out of her trance as the school bell rang signalling the end of lunch. As classes continued on through the day, all Nera could think about was Hikari.

When school ended for the day Nera went back to the front office and managed to pick up her new uniform. As she walked through the front courtyard, she spotted Hikari walking towards somewhere and with wanting to know more about her; Nera decided to follow to see where it was Hikari was actually going. After a couple of minutes Nera found herself at the schools outdoor swimming pool as the swim club she met earlier were practicing. She spotted Hikari looking at them or that's what she thought. When the boys climbed out of the pool for a second Nera noticed Hikari's eyes weren't on the guys, but on the actual pool itself. Not wanting Hikari to run off again Nera snuck up on the girl and then quietly stood next to her.

"Do you like the water?" Nera asked as Hikari turned around scared to see who it was; however she was surprised to see that it was only Nera.

"I-I like it, but the problem is I can't swim." Hikari told Nera. "You're in my homeroom class aren't you?"

"Yes I am, my name is Nera Suzuha. What's your name?" Nera asked Hikari even though she knew it already thanks to Gou.

"I-It's Hikari… Hikari Kazamoto. I'm really sorry about running away from you earlier today." Hikari bowed while apologizing to Nera.

"Don't worry about its fine. Hey Hikari, do you want to be friends with me?" Nera asked Hikari which shocked her.

"Y-Y-You really want to be friends with me. But what if what happens to me starts happening to you?" Nera knew what Hikari was implying when she asked her that question.

"I'm not worried one bit and besides; even though I've only been here for one day, I know a lot of good spots and places we could go to hang out. So what do you say, do you want to be friends?" Hikari started to tear up slightly. She hadn't had an actual friend in so long and it meant a lot to her.

"Y-Yes, I would like that." Hikari answered Nera.

"That's great then. Well we should probably start heading home." Nera said as the two of them walked away from the pool and out of the school grounds. As the girls were walking home Nera thought about what Hikari said earlier

"Hey Hikari, you know how you said earlier that you couldn't swim." Hikari simply nodded at Nera. "Well if you'd like I can try and teach you on how to swim." Nera told Hikari as her eyebrows lifted and her green eyes slightly popped out.

"Really you'd do that for me?"

"Yeah, I mean we're friends after all and friends are supposed to help each other out." Nera said but realised Hikari had stopped walking a few feet behind her and was just staring at Nera. Before Nera could react Hikari ran up and hugged Nera thanking her. Nera reached her house and after the two traded numbers with each other, Nera walked into her house while Hikari continued to walk home thinking to herself.

 _'Oh my god, I can't believe it. I actually have a friend and she said she's willing enough to help teach a scaredy-cat like me learn how to swim. I can't wait._ ' For the first time in a long time Hikari had smiled. Unfortunately that smiled would be wiped off when she got home unbeknownst to Nera.

* * *

 **A/N Author's Notes: ** Well what do you think? Brought in the main cast, but also a new OC as well. As for the teachers, didn't really pay attention to them so please don't kill me if you don't like it. Anyway let me know what you thought about this chapter. Positive and constructive criticism only please, No negative BS and thank you once again.

 **BVBwillow**


	4. Chapter 4: Meeting the family and Dinner

Nera walked into her house feeling like she was close to being on cloud nine. In only one day of school, she made a friend in Hikari but then soon realised that she had forgotten to answer the swim club's proposition to join them. Nera obviously knew that they were competitive swimmers and she swam and dived out of enjoyment, rather than records and times being the priority. She didn't know what to do.

Nera looked around the house and couldn't find her mum Harumi anywhere. That was until Harumi snuck out from a closet and scared her own daughter. She watched Nera fly back out of fear and fall on her butt while she started laughing.

"P-Please don't do that again Mum?" Nera asked-no pleaded with her mum still slightly scared, in case of anything else.

"I'm sorry Nera; I couldn't resist the opportunity. Anyway how was your first day at your new school?" Harumi asked being curious. It was a tendency of hers and rubbed off massively on her wife Kagura. Of course they only did it in a fun matter most of the time, if not all of it.

"It went well; I managed to pick up a school uniform and I was able to make a friend as well." Harumi was happy for Nera as she hugged the young girl. "So with that, do you think we can go diving now? You did promise me that if I did well today then you would take me." Nera reminded Harumi about what she said earlier on in the morning. She wasn't being pushy as Nera knew when it was good for her to go dive whenever. However in a case like this with being in a new town let alone a seaside town; it was more of a better idea for someone to go with Nera the first time.

"I was going to take you diving either way Nera. I just wanted to give you some extra motivation to do well in school today. Now before you think about hugging me, I need you to close your eyes for a minute okay. I've got something for you." Harumi teased her daughter as Nera closed her eyes. Running upstairs to hers and Kagura's bedroom, she pulled something out of a bag and brought it back down stairs. Checking to make sure that Nera was peeking or had moved at all, Harumi walked back into the living room and sat down next to Nera on the couch. "Okay Nera, you can open your eyes now." Telling her daughter and seeing the expression on Nera's face.

Nera looked at the gift in front of her and she couldn't believe it. Her mum Harumi had bought her a brand new wetsuit and in her favourite colour scheme. It was blue overall with white striping and patterns along the sides of it. Holding it in her hands and feeling the neoprene fabric along her fingers, she instantly became attached to the suit.

"Thank you so much Mum, this is one of the best things ever." Nera hugged Harumi and felt her back being patted softly which made her smile even more.

"You're welcome sweetie, now then why don't you go and get ready." Harumi watched Nera bolt to her bedroom. She had already told Kagura about her getting the wetsuit for Nera and she was completely fine with it. Getting up and heading to her own bedroom Harumi pulled all her gear out and stripped out of her clothes. Putting on a simple black two piece bikini on, she managed to pull her wetsuit up to her waist and then get the arms through the sleeves and zip up the suit. Harumi's wetsuit was black and yellow in colour and was designed very similar to Nera's new suit except it was just simple stripes on her own. She had a yellow frame mask and snorkel along with black and yellow fins as well. Harumi tied her dirty blonde hair up into a high ponytail and put on a baggy tracksuit jacket. She went back downstairs to wait on her daughter.

Nera was in her room and had just put on a dark blue one piece swimsuit and was staring into the mirror that was in her room. What she was staring was herself holding her new wetsuit trying to imagine what she would like with it on. 'For the love of peace, just put it on already!' Nera mentally screamed at herself. Squealing in excitement Nera pulled the suit up, inserted her arms, she zipped up the back and then stared at herself in the mirror once again. Nera smiled at how the suit fitted to her body and how comfy it was. Going in the wardrobe in her room once again she pulled out her black and blue fins and tried them on to make sure they still fitted her feet. Satisfied with that, Nera then opened one of her draws and pulled out her favourite white dive mask and snorkel and hung it around her neck. Nera then began to think about something to do with her friend. 'I wonder what Hikari would think if I tried to teach her a bit free diving as well.' Nera pushed those thoughts to the back of her mind for the time being and went back downstairs after zipping up a hoodie.

Walking down the stairs she found her mum sitting by the kitchen worktop and tapped her shoulder to say she was ready. Harumi wanted to see what her present looked like with Nera.

"Come on then Nera, let's have a look please?" Harumi asked her daughter. Nera accepted and took off her hoodie showing the wetsuit tightly hugging her body. She looked at her daughter and it looked like she loved it. "All right then, let's go hit the water then." Harumi said as she and Nera left the house and locked it walking down to the beach with the things they would need in their bags. Arriving at the beach the mum and daughter saw no one in sight. Leaving the belongings hiding in a small hole in the wall, Nera pulled out the weight belts and gave one to Harumi and walked towards the water. Once the water was around waist deep Nera used Harumi as something to hold onto as she put her fins on as did Harumi with Nera; and after going everything necessary they put their masks on their faces and dove in.

 **~Meanwhile~**

Hikari was at her house sitting in her bedroom waiting for her mother to come back from work. She still couldn't believe that she finally had a friend after so long, and she was incredibly giddy for the first time in a long time which helped her finish her homework even quicker. Thinking about Nera giving her swimming lessons made her feel confident that she could overcome her problem of being unable to swim, but she then realised that there was a problem. Hikari didn't own a single swimsuit. Deciding to give Nera a call, Hikari was hopefully that Nera would answer but it went directly to her voicemail. 'Nera must be busy at the minute.' Hikari thought to herself but soon heard the front door open and shut indicating that her mother arrived back home and she found her sitting in the living room with her laptop out again.

"Hello Mother."

"Hello Hikari." Hikari's mother replied with an emotionless voice.

"H-How did was work today?" Hikari asked hoping to get any type of emotion out of her mother.

"The same as usual, like I keep telling you when you ask me that every day. How did school go today?"

"It went well and I was able to finally make a friend." Hikari's mother stopped typing on her laptop and looked over at her daughter in somewhat shock, even if her face didn't show it. Without even replying to Hikari she turned back to her laptop and started typing again. "She's a really nice person and she even offered to give me swimming lessons." Hikari added on.

"Mm-Hmm, that sounds nice. I'm going to be working all night again so here is some money. Go and get something good to eat okay." Hikari was handed over money by her mother and she didn't even look at her. Ever since Hikari's father had died, her mother had become an even more distant person than before. She did spend time with Hikari throughout the massive amount of work she had, so Hikari would spend most of her free time with her father and was still happy until tragedy struck.

"Okay mother... I love you." Hikari said as she put on her shoes and jacket, waiting for a reply but instead got nothing but silence as she walked out the door. When Hikari was far enough from the house; her mother pulled out a bottle of vodka and poured a glass as she continued to work mumbling to herself.

Nera and her mum Harumi had just finished their time in the water and were just exiting the water walking onto the sand. Nera jumped on Harumi's back, essentially getting a piggy back ride from her laughing. "Thank you for taking me diving and the wetsuit again Mum." Nera said in a cheerful voice.

"No problem Nera; now if you wouldn't mind as to get off me please." Harumi told her daughter and with reluctance she stood on the ground again. Grabbing their bags from the hole in the wall they walked up to the pavement and just as they were about to make their way home, Nera spotted Hikari in the distance and deciding that this would be a good a time as any to introduce Hikari to one of her parents.

"Hey Hikari!" Nera shouted down the street to Hikari as she waved her arm. Harumi not knowing what was going on looked down the street and saw the turquoise haired girl in question.

"Oh hi Nera, how are you?" Hikari asked as she stood in front of Nera and Harumi.

"I'm fine; my mum and I just finished having a dive in the water. Mum this is my friend from school Hikari." Nera introduced Hikari to her mum.

"It's nice to meet you Hikari. You can just call me Harumi." Harumi shook Hikari's hand, but it somewhat seemed like Hikari wanted to protest but Harumi wouldn't have any of it. "Don't worry about it sweetie, call me Harumi and nothing else okay?" It looked she finally accepted the fact and let go, but looking at what both Nera and Harumi were wearing slightly confused Hikari since she had never seen anything like it.

"Uh Nera… What exactly are you wearing?" Hikari asked. Nera soon realising what Hikari was asking lightly face palmed.

"These are wetsuits and I take it you've never seen one before?" Hikari shook her head giving Nera her answer. "Anyway where are you going to?"

"My mum's apparently going to be busy with work all night, so she gave me some money to get some takeaway dinner for myself." Harumi felt slightly disgusted by her mother's actions; not even spending five to heat up even noodles. Without even an extra second she came to a decision.

"Well we're just about to head home and have dinner so if you'd like, you can come join us." Harumi told Hikari which shocked not only her but also Nera as well. "You don't have to worry about it; it wouldn't be a hassle at all so come on." She motioned both the girls to join her. Walking a few steps she turned to see Nera trying to convince her friend that it was okay. Soon enough though it worked out and all three made their way to the Suzuha household.

Arriving at the house the three girls walked through the front door and heard someone in the kitchen. Walking through they found Nera and Harumi's mother and wife Kagura already preparing something to eat.

"Hey Kagura we're home." Harumi said out loud making the brunette turn around to see not only her wife and daughter, but also Nera's friend.

"Welcome home girls, who's the extra guest here?"

"Mom, this is my friend from school Hikari." Nera introduced Kagura to Hikari who then introduced herself to Hikari as well. "Mum was adamant about having Hikari over for dinner."

"It's not a problem with me Nera. Anyway you should probably grab a shower since you were out in the water today." Kagura told her daughter.

"Okay Mom; you can wait in my bedroom Hikari." Nera said to Hikari as she pulled her along towards her bedroom. Telling her that she wouldn't be too long in the shower, Hikari decided to look around Nera's bedroom while she was in the shower. Nera's bedroom was covered with a wave inspired wallpaper that went along all the walls and on top of that were a large number of anime posters and prints as well. There was also a medium sized desk in the room with a computer and a sewing machine sitting on it. Nera soon enough though stood out of the shower, drying herself off and walked back to her room finding Hikari sitting on her bed. "Are you feeling okay Hikari?"

"Yeah I'm fine. I guess I was just daydreaming as usual. You have a nice room Nera." Hikari complimented Nera.

"Thanks Hikari, anyway I'm really excited about getting to teach to you how to swim." Nera said as she finished getting changed into some clothes. As soon as Nera said that, Hikari's problem soon came back to memory remembering she didn't have a swimsuit.

"Actually there might be a problem with that. I don't have a…swimsuit." Hikari told Nera slightly embarrassed hiding her face in her hands. Nera was thinking of a plan while tying her long purple hair into a messy bun.

"You can borrow one of my swimsuits for the time being; and then maybe we can go and buy you own for yourself. How does that sound?" Nera asked her friend which shocked her.

"I can't let you do that Nera. I can wait until I get o…" Hikari was silenced as Nera put a finger to her mouth, and needless to say it startled her. 'Why in the world did she just do that?' Hikari thought to herself.

"Absolute nonsense, it's no problem at all and besides; I've got a few swimsuits you can borrow or maybe even keep." Nera's wardrobe flew open and it was filled with nothing but cosplays, swimsuits and wetsuits. She also had drawers in there as well to keep her regular clothes in. Hikari looked at the sight that was in front of her and was stunned beyond belief. "So let's see here, what could possibly be a good swimsuit for you." Nera mumbled to herself. Hikari looked at all the cosplays that were hanging and it made her think back to when she and her dad would watch anime when she was younger.

"Did you make all of these Nera?" Hikari asked Nera whilst pointing at the cosplay section.

"Yup, everyone single one was made by me. Do you like them?" Hikari nodded and began to browse through them as Nera kept looking or a suitable swimsuit for her. Soon enough she found something that could be a possibility. "Hey Hikari would you okay with something like this?" Nera held a white one piece swimsuit with black stripes on the side. It had thick straps and small cut out in the back. It was a simple swimsuit but Nera liked it a lot. She wasn't into the really fancy looking ones and only took swimsuits that had her favourite colours and were a simple design. Nera handed it over to Hikari and saw her smile. "I'll take that as a yes then. Okay now if you didn't have a swimsuit, chances are you won't have any goggles. So let just get you a pair." Nera opened a small drawer at the bottom her wardrobe revealing multiple goggles and diving masks.

"Why do you have so much swimming stuff Nera?" Hikari asked slightly curious about Nera's stuff.

"I guess it because I love being under the water; so much that I always make sure to have spares in case something falls apart. Anyways, here are some goggles you can borrow for now Hikari." Nera joyfully told Hikari as she handed over a pair of silver swimming goggles. Afterwards Kagura shouted that dinner was ready and both girls came downstairs towards the joint living and dining room. The dinner being served was a beef with mashed potatoes, vegetables and gravy dinner. The idea came from when before Harumi and Kagura had adopted Nera, they had a holiday in the UK and had experienced British food and wanted to cook this back home in Japan. So over the years Kagura practiced trying to get it right and soon enough, she could do it with relative ease.

Hikari looked at her dinner with surprise. It was the first home cooked dinner she had in almost a year. All she could remember about home cooked dinners in her house was her father cooking them all the time.

"Itadakimasu!" Everyone said as they dug spooking Hikari slightly since she was reminiscing about the good times, before the accident.

"I-Itadakimasu." Hikari said recomposing herself. Digging into the food Hikari didn't know what to expect since she never had anything like this, but when she put the first pile of food in her mouth; she let out a small squeal of delight as it was delicious for her.

"I take it you like it Hikari?" Kagura asked the turquoise haired girl as she smiled.

"It's wonderful, thank you very much for letting me join you for dinner tonight Mrs. Suzuha." Hikari formally replied.

"No no no… No formality please. You can just call us Harumi and Kagura." Harumi told Hikari as she pointed at herself and Kagura.

"Thank you Mrs. Su… Harumi, Kagura and you as well Nera."

"So Nera here told me that she's going to teach you how to swim, is that right?" Harumi asked wanting to know more. It was as if she was a high school girl all over again as Kagura smacked her lightly on the back of her head.

"Y-Yes it's true that Nera offered to teach to me on how to swim. She's also been kind enough to let me borrow a swimsuit and some goggles as well."

"You really don't have anything to do with swimming. Not even a simple swimsuit." Harumi asked her daughter's friend and she shook her head in response.

"I offered to take her shopping for some swimming gear as well at some point. To make sure she'll be prepared and safe." Nera told her parents who smiled at just how caring and considerate their daughter was. Soon enough dinner was finished and after the dishes were cleaned and put away, Hikari was getting ready to head back home but not before putting the swimming gear that Nera was letting her borrow in a bag.

"Are you sure you don't want me to walk with you Hikari?" Nera asked caringly.

"I'll be fine, besides I'm only going home. Anyway thank you for the dinner." Hikari replied back.

"You're welcome honey; just remember you can come over any time you like." Kagura told Hikari just as she put her shoes and opened the front door.

"Thank you Mrs. S… Kagura; bye." Hikari said as she shut the door and began running off home with a smile on her face. Soon afterwards Nera went to bed after an interesting first day of school, leaving her parents all by themselves to discuss matters.

"She seems like a nice girl doesn't she Harumi?" Kagura asked her wife.

"She does, but I think there's something else." Harumi stated slightly concerned.

"What do you think it is?"

"I don't know, but I'm sure that she or Nera will tell us at some point. So for now we should stay out of it." Harumi said as she and Kagura sat in the living room. "Now come on, I've got something to show you upstairs." Harumi teased Kagura as she began to tickle her, but soon stopped as she ran upstairs towards their bedroom.

"Harumi you come back here. I swear I'm going to get you." Kagura ran after her giggling lightly as all the lights in the house were turned off and went into the room after Harumi.

 **~Back with Hikari~**

Hikari had just got back to her house and had walked in. Putting her stuff away in her room, she walked back downstairs to find her mother lying on the couch with an almost empty vodka bottle in her hand. The look on Hikari's face was that of disgust and sadness as she knew what her mother was going through. The thing was that she had been doing the same thing for almost a full year and it was hard on Hikari seeing her mother like this.

'Why won't you let anyone help mother, even me?" Hikari thought as a small tear was making its way out. She closed her mother's laptop, put a blanket over her and took the bottle away from her. Walking back upstairs and into her room, Hikari was getting her school belongings ready for the next day and changed into her pyjamas when her bedroom door opened. Turning around Hikari saw her mother standing there with a belt in her hands. Hikari knew she was drunk, but still didn't know what was going on.

"Mom, what's wrong?" Hikari asked slightly nervous. Her mother walked up to her and slapped her in the side of the head. This was the first time this happened and it was only about to get worse as she began hitting her own daughter with the belt in hand. During this she kept slurring that Hikari was always the favourite when it came to Hikari's father, but Hikari knew that wasn't true and it was just the alcohol taking over her mother once again. Soon enough Hikari's mother walked out of the room, leaving Hikari all alone in her bedroom lying in her bed, trying to nurse her injuries.

"Why did you that Mom? Don't you love me? Because I love you and always will." Hikari said as she silently cried herself to sleep trying to forget what had just happened.

* * *

 **A/N Author's Notes:** Another chapter in the books. This was extemely hard to do for around 3/4 of the chapter. I'm honestly quite surprised and pleased with how it came out and hopefully you readers will be as well. I also want to state that swim club will be featured a little bit less as I want to focus on my OCs, but I will still have them in the story when I feel it is necessary so don't worry about that. Also if some word appear different, then it's because I spell them in a different way because of where I'm from and how I was taught, just letting you know so please don't kill me for that. Anyway positive and constructive criticism only and thank you for reading this chapter.

 **BVBwillow**


	5. Chapter 5: Bullies and First lesson

Waking up in the morning Hikari felt sore after what had happened the night before. Looking at herself in the mirror, she could see the bruises were somehow very minuscule to the point of almost non-existent which she was thankful for. Heading downstairs for breakfast Hikari found a note on the kitchen worktop along with some money left from her mother.

" _Dear Hikari  
I've already left for work and from what I was told over the phone, I'm going to a conference for a few days so you'll be alone in the house. I have left you some money to make sure you get through until I get back, so look after yourself.  
Mum."_

Hikari looked at the note and felt hurt. Even though her mother said to look after herself in the note, all Hikari wanted was for the words "I love you" to come from her and yet it still hadn't come out yet. Crumpling the note up and throwing in the trash Hikari had some breakfast and went to get ready for school. Putting on her uniform her phone went off and saw that it was Nera calling her and tried to put on a brave act.

"Hi Nera how are you?"

"I'm fine thanks, what about you?" Nera returned over the phone.

"I'm okay, thank you for asking."

"No problem at all, hey have you remembered to pack the swimming gear I lent you for today because it's for your first lesson." Nera sounded very giddy and bubbly over the phone. Hikari couldn't understand how that was possible.

"Oh thanks for reminding me Nera and thank you again for taking the time to teach me how to swim." Hikari very thankfully said to Nera over the phone.

"You're welcome Hikari, so do you want to meet up at the beach and then we can walk to school together?"

"Yeah that sounds great Nera. I should probably finish getting ready so I'll see you in a bit?"

"Okay then, see you in a bit. Bye."

"Bye." Hikari gave back as both girls hung up the phones and finished getting ready for the day ahead. Hikari tied her turquoise hair up into a nice clean bun on the back of her head and after packing the swimming gear that Nera was letting her borrow along with her normal school essentials, she locked up the house and proceeded to meet up with Nera. As for Nera she pretty much did the exact same thing as Hikari when it came to packing for school. She put her feather earring in and brushed her long purple hair so there weren't any knots and let it flow down her back and soon left her house as well.

Nera just gotten to the beach and was looking around for Hikari. Earphones in and looking around, she couldn't spot Hikari and decided to wait for her. As she was waiting for Hikari, Nera spotted both Makoto and Haruka further down the street, but chose to catch up with them at school and soon enough Hikari showed up.

"Hey there Hikari, got everything you need for the lesson after school?" Nera asked her friend, in which Hikari replied by opening her bag to reveal the swimsuit and goggles. "All right then, let's get to school." Nera and Hikari walked along to school together and when they arrived, the two immediately went straight to homeroom for the first class of the day. During the lesson Nera kept glancing over at Hikari as her face was buried in her workbook, but Gou was also glancing once every so often at Nera as well. The bell soon went off signalling that class had ended and the next lesson was about to begin and Nera walked up to Hikari.

"Hey Hikari what have you got next?" Nera asked her friend

"I've got maths, what about you?" Hikari replied, asking the same thing.

"I have art now so I'll see you at lunch then?" Hikari nodded and the two girls separated walking to their classes.

When lunch time came around Nera ran off to find Hikari before anyone else did. She did because of what had happened the day before and didn't want it happening again. Luckily enough though she found Hikari with relative ease and immediately decide to take her to the roof to avoid anyone else. Once they got up to the roof the two girls sat down next to each other and pulled out their separate lunches.

"I was sure that the swim club was going to be up here." Nera said to herself which caught the attention of Hikari.

"Swim Club?"

"Oh yeah, I met them up here yesterday at lunch and we talked for a bit. That was before I saw you down there and ran off to help you, and did you do in return. You ran off from me." Nera jokingly said, however Hikari didn't seem to pick up the sarcasm.

"I'm really sorry about doing that." Hikari said feeling slightly guilty.

"I was being sarcastic there Hikari. There's nothing to be sorry for." Hikari then started giggling which then broke out into full out laughter for both girls. During the first few minutes of lunch the two started talking about anime, manga and music for a bit before Hikari asked Nera about what she saw yesterday.

"Hey Nera, can I ask you something?" Nera simply nodded. "You know with how you were wearing that outfit last night, I can't remember what you called it. You said that you and your mum went for a dive but I didn't see any air tanks or things like that. What were you doing exactly Nera?" Hikari asked which seemed to surprise Nera.

"Like I said to you yesterday, I was wearing a wetsuit. As for the reason why you didn't see any air tanks and scuba gear when me and my mum came out of the water from a dive. That's because we were doing something called freediving." Hikari looked slightly confused, so Nera continued to explain what freediving was exactly. Hikari's green emerald eyes almost popped out of her head when she heard that Nera would hold her breath for around three to four minutes underwater, and that she had been doing it for a number of years. "So yeah that's freediving I guess. So what did you think about that?"

"I think you're crazy, that long underwater! You should've drowned after that amount of time. How in the hell don't you drown after that long?" Hikari asked making Nera laugh lightly.

"Well when we're in the pool after school today, I'll show and teach you how to control your heart beat through breathing exercises. I think mainly for today we should focus on getting you feeling comfortable in the water okay?" Nera replied and Hikari nodded. "Only problem is that we need to ask someone if we can use the pool after school though, but whom?"

"How about Ms. Amakata, she is our club's advisor after all." Gou said scaring both Nera and Hikari with not only her but the swim club's sudden appearance.

"How about not sneaking up on us like that? You scared the living hell out of us!" Nera yelled back. Everyone's face apart from Haru's went slightly glum knowing what they had just done on account of Gou. "Anyway, thanks for letting us know Kou. I take you and the others are up here to avoid everyone else with lunch?" Gou nodded in which Nera motioned for her and the boys to sit down next to her and Hikari, but the turquoise haired girl felt slightly shy and nervous being around so many people. "Hikari don't worry about them, they're all right to be around because this lot are the swim club." Nera stated and soon enough each person introduced themselves to Hikari trying to make her feel comfortable around them.

It seemed like it was working until another group of people came up onto the roof. Nera soon recognized them as the group that were bullying Hikari the day before in the courtyard. Hoping not to be noticed as they walked to the far end of the roof, the swim club, Nera and Hikari tried sneaking off; but just as they thought they had managed to sneak away, one of the girls turned around and saw Hikari.

"Hey guys look who it is. It's our old buddy Hikari; hey Hikari come over here?" The girl jokingly asked as she stared down Hikari who seemed to be trembling from a distance. As the group began making their way over, Hikari ran as fast as she could down the stairs in hopes to get away from them. She was then followed the Nera and the swim club as they tried to catch up to her with Nera leading the way. "Come back here Hikari, we only want to talk?" The girl said once again as she and the rest of her gang chased them down.

"Hikari wait up, let us help you! Nera pleaded with Hikari only for her turn run out of the hallway and out into the school grounds. As the swim club followed Nera as they chased Hikari, they recognized where they were heading towards.

"Hikari is running towards the pool." Makoto shouted in a worried tone. Hikari reached the pool and ran to the far corner and curled up against the fence, soon enough though Nera and the others caught up to her but were extremely careful in approaching her and Nera was extremely worried for her friend.

"Hikari, it's only me. Come on please look at me?" Nera asked Hikari. Hikari's emerald green eyes were filled with tears and when she looked up, she saw Nera sitting next to her and the swim club crouched down around her trying to comfort her. The poor emotional girl then felt Nera hugging and rocking ever so slightly, but she started to panic again when her bullies finally found her.

"Come on Hikari we just want to talk." The girl from before said with her so called friends behind her all smirking at how Hikari was curled up. They weren't paying any attention to the swim club or Nera as they tried to push their way through towards the turquoise haired girl. However when the girl that appeared to be the leader went to approach Hikari, everyone heard yelling and turning around all of them saw Ms. Amakata storming her way towards everyone.

"That's enough! You lot, head straight for the staff room right now and don't even think about ditching otherwise I'll give you all detention and trash duty for a week." Ms. Amakata shouted at the group of bullies who were trying to argue their way out of it but Ms. Amakata was having none of it. As they were walking away, the leader turned to look at Hikari. "I guess we'll be seeing you later Hikari, come on guys let's go." The girl said as her gang left the pool area. As Nera and the swim club tried to calm down Hikari Ms. Amakata came up to them asking if she was okay, Hikari simply nodded with her reply and as everyone headed back inside for the last classes of the dead Nera reminded Hikari that the teacher in front of them was the person to talk to about using the school's swimming pool after school.

"Uh Ms. Amakata, can I ask something please?" Nera asked Ms. Amakata

"Go ahead Nera, what is it you want to ask?"

"Well I promised Hikari here that I would give her some swimming lessons, and I was wondering if Hikari and I could use the pool after school if it's possible." Nera gave her question to Ms. Amakata. She was pondering on what to do about the question she was just asked about, they seemed like nice girls and if it was for a good cause then there shouldn't be a problem.

"I don't see why not, so yes you can. Just let me know when you want to use it; and also remember that the swim club here use it as well." Ms. Amakata answered much to the delight of Nera.

"Thank you so much Ms. Amakata, this means a lot." Nera politely bowed in front of Ms. Amakata before running of with Hikari to class with their belongings. "Well looks I get to teach you today after all."

"Thanks for this Nera; I hope I'm troubling you with this."

"Of course you're not. Friends help each other out and that's what I'm doing okay. So let's meet up by the pool gate once school's finished today, and then we'll get started." Nera told Hikari and soon the two separated from each other to the respective classes.

~Later on~

The school bell had rung signalling the end of another day at Iwatobi High. Most students begun wandering off home and others stayed behind to take part in club activities. Nera was waiting by the gate in front of the swimming pool for Hikari to show up. After a few minutes of waiting Hikari appeared looking unusually giddy. To Nera it seemed like she was really excited about this.

"So you ready for this?" Nera asked her friend. Hikari simply nodded with a smile and as the girls went off towards the changing rooms, the swim club came out ready for their practice. After exchanging a few words of encouragement, Nera and Hikari went inside to change. Nera stripped off her school uniform and put on a light blue one piece swimsuit with white striping on the sides and had some blue tinted goggles hanging from her neck. After putting her belongings in a locker she turned around to see Hikari the white swimsuit that she lent to her with the silver goggles in her hands as well. "Looking good there Hikari, so let's get started."

"O-okay Nera." Hikari said nervously as she and Nera walked out of the changing rooms towards the pool. Standing by the pool they saw the swim club practicing for a tournament with Gou giving orders at the side. Walking to the far end of the pool Hikari felt slightly more nervous about being in the water.

"Hey nothing's going to happen. I'm going to be right by you okay." Nera reassured her friend as she nodded. "Good; okay then the first thing to do is to get you comfortable with being in the water. Let's start by going underwater first." Nera said as they both put their goggles on and climber into the pool. "Now take a few deep breaths and then when I nod my head, we're going under all right." Nera held Hikari's hands to give her reassurance that she was there with her and after a few deep breaths, Nera nodded her head and with one list big breath both girls went under the water's surface.

Hikari's eyes were glued shut, but she was slowly opening them. As her sight came back she could see Nera right in front of her realizing she was underwater. After trying to keep her composure, her lungs soon began to crave for fresh air and the girls came back up. Nera was clapping her hands as she was pleased with Hikari.

"Nice job Hikari. You were able stay under for just over thirty seconds for your first time underwater." Nera told Hikari and her smile began to grow.

"Really! I was under for that long, it felt more like ten for me."

"Okay we're going to keep doing this a few more times, and then we'll start with you actually swimming." The girls kept going under and back to the surface for about another ten minutes before Nera decided to move to the next step. "That was really good. Now next I want you to start kicking your feet in the water. I'll still be holding your hands, but just remember to kick your feet in a controlled manner and come up for air when you need it." Nera instructed as she took her friend's hands in her own and watched her kick her feet as she lightly swam backwards. 'Wow, she's doing better than I thought she would and this is only the first lesson. I guess she be good in the water in no time.' Nera thought to herself as they ended at the other end of the pool. Hikari looked up and saw where she was; soon realizing what she had just done.

"D-Did I just... swim the whole length of the pool?" Hikari asked herself.

"You sure did. That was great, I guess you'll be-" Nera was cut off as Hikari hugged her out of the blue catching the purple haired girl off guard slightly, but she soon returned the hug. "Okay then that should do it for now, let's get changed and head home." The pair clambered out of the pool and wandered back to the changing rooms. A little while afterwards the two girls left the school grounds and began the journey home.

"You know how it's Saturday tomorrow right?" Nera asked Hikari. The turquoise haired girl nodded her head in acknowledgement. "Well I was wondering if you want to hang out tomorrow. We could possibly go shopping for some swimsuit and swim gear if you'd like?" Nera asked Hikari surprised.

Hikari didn't know what to say. She wanted to hang out with Nera, but she was worried that she'd find out that Hikari was alone in the house. Her thoughts were circling around in her mind so much that she jumped when Nera tapped her shoulder. "Aaaaaahhhhhh!"

"Sorry… sorry about that, are you okay?"

"Y-Y-Yeah I'm fine sorry about that; but sure I'll hang out with you tomorrow. What time do you want to meet up at?" Hikari replied after calming herself down and reassuring Nera that no harm was done.

"Cool, so how about ten-thirty."

"Sounds good to me, here's the swimsuit and goggles you let me borrow." Hikari went to hand them back over to Nera but with a smile on her face, she pushed them back.

"Keep them, they suit you." Nera told Hikari. She seemed reluctant but Nera insisted and hugged her friend.

"Thank you Nera, I'll see you tomorrow." Hikari shouted back as she ran off home with a smile on her face, even though she was heading back to an empty house. Nera felt really good about what she was able to do for Hikari and walked back home. However both girls may have felt a little too happy.

* * *

 **A/N Author's Note:** Finally got a new chapter up. Took a while for figuring out what the best way of handling the chapter would be and I believe I did a good job. Hopefully you lot did too. Also if you've read my other story **Asuna's Secret** , then I have to confess that I'm slightly struggling with the new chapter for it. There is an idea; just having trouble translating it into words. Anyways once again positive and constructive criticism only and thank you for reading.

 **BVBwillow**


	6. Chapter 6: Shopping

Waking up the next morning, some of Nera's long purple hair was tied in knots. Her parents weren't up yet so she decided to go for a quick morning shower. Starting the hot water she pulled the shower curtain back and stood under the hot running water. Rubbing shampoo and conditioner through her hair Nera let the hot water wash it out. Turning off the shower she almost immediately wrapped a towel around her head in an attempt to dry her hair as much as possible and after about ten to fifteen minutes, Nera left the bathroom and went back to her room but not without seeing her both her mothers.

Nera was drying the rest of her hair off with the hairdryer and brushing it at the same time. Soon afterwards she was done with that and went to pick out some clothes for the day from her wardrobe. After picking her clothes out Nera grabbed her phone and gave Hikari a quick call.

 **~A little bit earlier~**

Hikari's alarm clock had gone off waking up the turquoise haired girl. Looking at the clock that said it was nine in the morning, with almost reluctance she had dragged herself out of bed and went to the shower. After cleaning herself up and getting dressed she made a simple breakfast. While Hikari was eating her phone started going off and found out to be Nera calling her.

"Hey Hikari, how are you doing?" Nera asked her friend over the phone.

"I'm fine thanks; what about you?" Hikari returned the question.

"I'm good, so you still up for going out today?"

"Yeah I'm still up for it. We're meeting up at… ten-thirty right?" Hikari asked wanting to be sure.

"You're right ten-thirty; where do you want to meet at?" Nera replied confirming the time to meet up at.

"How about I come over to your house?"

"Sounds good, okay then see you at ten-thirty." Nera said as she hung up her end of the call. Hikari put her phone in her pocket and ran up to her room to grab her purse and put it in her other pocket. After making everything in the house is switched off, Hikari grabbed her house key, locked the front door behind her and began walking towards Nera's house.

~Back at Nera's house a little later on~

Nera was sitting in the living room watching TV while waiting for Hikari to arrive. Her mum Harumi poked around the wall to see Nera just staring at the TV, so being the "good" mum she was decided to have some fun. Avoiding her wife Kagura she grabbed a single ice cube from the freezer and quickly snuck back to the living room and while Nera was looking the other way, Harumi quickly ran up, pulled the collar of Nera's shirt back and dropped the ice cube down her back and watched her daughter squirm trying to get rid of the ice cube down her back.

After what seemed like an eternity for Nera she managed to get the ice cube out of her shirt and when she turned around, she saw her mum Harumi clutching her stomach and sides almost laughing to death. Her other mom Kagura walked in to see what the commotion was about.

"Okay Harumi what did you do?" Kagura asked her wife who was still laughing.

"She put an ice down the back of my shirt mom." Nera complained to Kagura as Harumi was trying to calm herself down. "Why mum, why would you do that?"

"I'm sorry Nera, I just couldn't help myself." Harumi said finally wiping the tears out of her eyes, but she soon found her arms trapped as Kagura held her and watched Nera pick up the ice cube of the ground. "No no no no… You better not be thinking about it Nera." Harumi pleaded, but it fell on deaf ears as well sinister grins from both Nera and Kagura.

"Do it now Nera!" Kagura shouted out as Nera dropped the ice cube down her mum's back and watched her squirm. Laughing so much Nera almost didn't hear the knocking on the front door. She opened it and found Hikari standing there in front of her.

"Hi Hikari."

"Hi Nera. What's happening in there?" Hikari questioned Nera hearing the combination of complaining and laughter.

"Oh that's just my parents, one of them dropped an ice cube down the back of my shirt and my other mom just helped me get revenge, so you ready to head to the city?" Nera asked her friend. Hikari nodded and Nera quickly grabbed her purse, phone and key. "Okay I'm heading out with Hikari for the day; so I'll see you guys later." Nera said as she ran out of the house with her friend and down towards the train station.

Waiting at the train station Nera and Hikari were talking about where they would be going whilst in the city. The train pulled up to the station, the two girls walked on board the train and waiting for a few minutes the train departed from the station towards the city. Since Nera wanted to make sure that Hikari had all the proper things needed for swimming, she was going to take her to a store she knew about that specialised in aquatic based activities and sports. There were also some fabric stores to look at as well and the usual clothes and music stores. After riding the train for around a half hour Nera and Hikari stepped off the train, walked through the station and out into the city. Walking through the crowd of people in the streets the girls ended up at a large shopping centre.

"All right then Hikari, is there anywhere you want to look at?" Nera asked.

"I kind of want to get some new jeans so maybe stop by one of the clothes stores." Hikari told her friend.

"All right then, off we go I guess." Finding the shop that Hikari wanted to go in they browsed around for a few minutes before Hikari found some jeans she wanted to try on whilst Nera found a shirt. Trying on the clothes they picked out Nera figured she didn't really want the shirt and Hikari decided to put back two pairs of jeans back on the shelves since she figured that they weren't comfortable unlike the other pair she paid for; soon afterwards the girls left the shop and kept walking to another store. A little while later and looking through other clothes, music and fabric stores, Nera decided that it was time to get down to business and help out Hikari.

"Hikari, you know how I told you about the store that sells swimming gear?" Nera asked and Hikari nodded in response. "Well I think we should head over there now. We should get you some more swimsuits and swimming gear as well, just follow me." Nera lead Hikari to the store and after walking for a few minutes, they came across the sign 'The store of Aquatics: swimwear & equipment'. Walking up the stairs Hikari wasn't sure of what to expect but was instantly surprised by the amount of equipment for different water sports and swimwear. "Okay let's go find some swimsuits in your size." Nera grabbed a hold of Hikari's hand and dragged the turquoise haired girl over towards the swimsuits all the while Hikari's emotions and feelings were somewhat starting to run rampant in her mind. In a way she felt…happy, but a little…too happy.

' _Her hand is so warm and soft. Wait! Why am I thinking about something like that, come on pull yourself together...'_ Needless to say it wasn't working. _'But still, it is nice.'_ After finding Hikari's size, both of them pulled out swimsuits that they each thought would look nice on Hikari but on the way to the changing rooms, Hikari began to feel a little bit shy and nervous.

"Hey Hikari, are you okay there?" Nera asked feeling concerned.

"I…I don't think I can do this by myself. Do you think that you could…maybe try some on with me?" Hikari asked Nera but she was instantly regretting it as she saw Nera's eyes widen. _'OH GOD! OH GOD! OH MY…GOD! Why did I just ask Nera to do that? She's probably going to think I'm a total freak now and leave me by myself. It wouldn't be the first time anyone's done that.'_ Hikari thought to herself as her body began to shake from being scared.

"Sure thing!" Hikari's green emerald eyes flew open and stared into Nera's purple amethyst eyes out of shock.

"W-W-What do you just s-say?" Hikari asked Nera not believing what she just heard.

"Sure, I'll try some suits on with you. It'll be fun." Nera assured Hikari who still seemed to be in somewhat disbelief. She then felt a large amount of weight on her as Hikari had lunged at her and her and hugged so much that they fell over into the floor. Realising the position they were in Hikari shot straight back up apologizing so much that it made Nera giggle a little, she told Hikari that it wasn't a big deal and the two went to grab some suits for Nera to try on as well.

After grabbing a few suits Nera and Hikari went to the changing rooms to try them on. As they were changing into their first suits each, both them started thinking about what was going on.

' _I hope Hikari is enjoying this day out, but why did she hug me like that? Wait! Could she be starting to have a crush on me? Nnaaaahhhhh, that can't be it.'_ Nera thought to herself while Hikari was in the booth next to her but she then started to second guess herself. _'Or is it?'_

' _Why did I hug her like that; and what's this feeling I have inside of me? It's almost like...' Hikari began thinking as she then felt her body began to feel slightly warm and her heart was beating a little bit more when thinking about Nera, and soon enough she realised it. 'OH NO! AM I FALLING IN LOVE WITH NERA? It can't be, I mean...we're both girls for crying out loud and even if I were to still have these feelings for Nera; there's just no way she would feel the same about me. She is nice though'_ Hikari thought to herself as she finished putting on the swimsuit and put her hands over her heart trying to calm herself down.

"Hey Hikari you ready to come out and have a look?" Nera called out from the next booth.

"Uh…y-yeah I'm ready." Hikari walked out as did Nera and both of them just stared at each other. Nera was wearing a light silver two piece swimsuit with white striping patterns. The top half looked very similar to that of a sports bra and she was wearing ankle length bottoms. Hikari on the other hand was wearing a dark green one piece swimsuit with a cross section in the back. Nera looked impressed with how Hikari's swimsuit looked on her; all the while Hikari's thought process once again was all over the place.

"You look really nice in that Hikari. It kind of blends with your hair colour as well." Nera complimented Hikari as she started to slightly blush.

"R-R-Really, thank you Nera. You look nice as well." Hikari returned the compliment with one of her own.

"Thanks; I already have one similar to this one at home so I might pick it up at a later time. Besides this trip is about you and getting you prepared, so I guess we should try the other ones on." Nera smiled as she walked back into her booth. During the course of the next ten to fifteen minutes the two of them tried on multiple swimsuits and had fun with it. While Nera put all of hers back in their respective places on the shelves, Hikari picked out three different one piece swimsuits to buy for now and next was to pick out some goggles for her.

Walking around looking at the goggles Nera explained that Hikari should chose some that feel comfortable wear. Hikari was looking at the goggles until her eyes came across the dive masks that looked like the ones that Nera had. Picking one up and holding it in her hands, the turquoise haired girl seemed to be remembering what Nera looked like with one and just like with the swimsuits; it made her feel happy and slightly warm inside. She seemed like she wanted to try it on but she was so self-conscious about her looking stupid; but never the less she began to put it on only for Nera to spook her as Nera touched her shoulder.

"Aaaaahhhh! Please don't scare me like that again." Hikari pleaded with Nera innocently.

"Sorry about that." Nera said as she noticed what Hikari had in her hands. "Do you like the dive masks Hikari?"

"Mm-Hm; I don't know why but they just look…good for some weird reason." Hikari said as she put the mask back.

"Then pick one to buy."

"A-Are you sure that's a good idea Nera?"

"Of course it is; it'll go well if you buy a pair of goggles as well, so if you want I'll help you choose one." Hikari was surprised even though she shouldn't have been. Nera had been helping her out and yet still felt like it was either a dream, or that she didn't deserve her help. Needless to say Hikari put those thoughts in the back of her mind as she picked out a pair of swimming goggles and a dive mask. The goggles she picked were a pair of turquoise tinted goggles, which just so happened to be the ones that Nera picked out for her. As for the dive mask, Hikari chose a green framed dive mask. Deciding that was enough for now Hikari paid for her items and the girls not only left the store, but the shopping store as well as it had just gone past lunch time.

Finding a small café to have lunch in, Hikari began thanking Nera for all her help from picking out her swimming gear to the lessons so far; even though they only had the one. After ordering their food and drinks the two of them talked about the lessons and other things until their orders arrived which didn't take long.

"I just want to thank you again for helping me with this Nera. It really means a lot to have not only you helping me, but also being my friend." Hikari thanked Nera.

"Hey-Hey you don't have to keep thanking me every five seconds. I don't mind at all and it's just as you said, we're friends after all." Nera reassured her friend.

"Well thank you anyway Nera. Do you think you could give me another lesson today when we get back to Iwatobi?"

"I don't see why not, sure I'll give you another lesson. Just remember not to worry as I'm going to be there every step of the way; but I also want to see you pushing yourself as well." Hikari nodded at Nera and soon enough they finished their lunch, paid for it and left for the train station to head back to Iwatobi.

On the way back however Hikari was having thoughts about her feelings towards Nera; and with how to speak to her about them. _'I hope I don't mess this up. I mean like, I really like her a lot almost to the point of love. However who is to say that she feels the same way about me.'_ Hikari thought to herself as they waited for the train. Nera was also thinking about something as well…or someone.

' _Hikari's such a nice person to be around. I just hope I don't screw this friendship up, but why do I have this feeling that I want it to be even more than that. What's going on with me?"_ Nera questioned herself as they took a seat waiting for the train to take them back to home. After a few minutes of waiting the train arrived and the two of them walked onboard and sat down in the sears as the train began moving back towards Iwatobi.

* * *

 **A/N Author's Note:** I know this chapter is shorter than the ones before, but there is a good reason for that. I had made around three different verisions for a chapter to fill this spot in and the other two didn't seem to work unlike this one. As much as I wanted to add more to the chapter, it probably would've just killed it in a bad way somewhat in my honest opinion but hopefully you guys like this chapter.

Also for further notice and as I stated earlier on in the story, there could be a rating change and I feel it could come real soon. Not trying be freaky, disgusting or anything like that at all; I'm just trying to challenge myself and see where I can take the story and the relationships between the characters, my own orginal characters and also the series creator's own even if they aren't featured as much. Once again guys positive and constructive criticism only, no negativity or rude comments please. Thank you for reading this chapter and looking forward to writing the next chapter.

 **BVBwillow**


	7. Chapter 7: Second lesson

The train pulled in into the station at Iwatobi and Nera and Hikari both got off. Walking back to Nera's house, Hikari felt happy that she could have Nera give her more swimming lessons and also hang out with her. Carrying her new swimsuits and goggles in her carrier bag she was giddy as a small child in a sweet shop and Nera noticed. Arriving at Nera's house both of them wandered in expecting Nera's parents to be there, but there was nothing but silence. Looking around Hikari found a note in the kitchen and handed it over to Nera.

" _Nera_

 _Myself and Kagura have had to go into work for a little bit because we have to help out some staff. We'll back home at around 4pm, be careful and have fun today. Love you Nera._

 _Mum & Mom"_

Nera knew that this wouldn't happen unless it was absolutely necessary, but she understood that it had to be done. Besides she was going to be busy herself with swimming lessons for Hikari. After telling the turquoise haired girl about what was going on, Nera grabbed a set of towels and both of them picked out the swimsuits and goggles for the day and after locking the house they walked off towards the school pool. Along the way Nera decided to call Gou to know is she and the swim club were already at the pool.

"Hey Kou, its Nera."

"Oh hi Nera, what's up?" Gou asked over the phone.

"Me and Hikari are heading over to the school to use the pool because Hikari wants another lesson today. Are you and the swim club at the pool or somewhere else?" Nera explained to Gou.

"We actually just got here because we have another practice session today. So I guess we'll be seeing you in a few minutes."

"Yeah I guess so, see you in a bit Kou. Bye." Nera ended the call and put her phone back in her pocket. Nera figured that Hikari would have overheard the conversation and wouldn't have to say anything. However Hikari seemed to be daydreaming so it was probably better if Nera told her. "The swim club is already at the pool so we'll be seeing them as well." Nera told Hikari as she came out of a somewhat trance like state.

"Huh! Oh that's good to hear, but won't we be interfering with their practice?"

"Hikari we've already a swimming lesson while they were practicing so I doubt it would be trouble, come on." Nera said as she began to run off leaving Hikari to catch up.

"Hey, wait up Nera!" Hikari shouted.

Running towards the school didn't take too long and soon enough the girls ended up at the gate for the school's pool. Nera was exhausted at all unlike Hikari seeing as how she was slowly catching her breath. Spotting Gou Nera wandered up to her and asked her about what was going on in more details. The guys were still training for the upcoming competition according to Gou; and shortly afterwards Nera and Hikari walked off to the changing rooms. Hikari pulled out her new dark green one piece swimsuit along with some turquoise tinted goggles. Taking her clothes off, she pulled her swimsuit on and hung her goggles around her neck and put her belongings in the locker. Nera meanwhile was thinking about what happened at the aquatic store earlier on and how Hikari behaved.

' _I'm pretty sure Hikari is just thankful for me helping her out and being her friend; but still. It was weird she hugged me and we fell on the floor. Also after that, a few times she seemed to be…blushing whenever she directly looked at me. Maybe there are some feelings, I just…I just don't want to rush anything in case it scares her. I'm her friend and that's all that matters now.'_ Nera thought to herself as she adjusted the straps on her swimsuit. "Are you ready to get started Hikari?" Nera asked her friend, Hikari walked around from the other side of the lockers and stared at Nera.

"I'm ready Nera, so what are we doing today?" Hikari asked her tutor and friend.

"Okay so first of we're going to keep going underwater again and again for a few minutes, just to make sure you're comfortable in the water again. Then we'll move on to you kicking your legs in the water; I'll be holding your hands in front of you again and then afterwards I'm going to give for a kickboard and I want to see you swim by yourself." That last part seemed to freak Hikari out a bit since she would be swimming by herself. She felt her whole body going numb and shaking and began remembering "that day" all over again. "Hey Hikari don't worry, I'll be right beside you making sure nothing happens to you all right?" Nera asked making sure Hikari was okay, Hikari nodded and both girls walked out of the changing rooms towards the pool.

Sliding into the water from the edge of the pool they adjusted their goggles and began with some breathing exercises to calm their heartbeats down. "Okay Hikari time to go under and remember to come up when you need to; don't push yourself too much of you're not comfortable." Nera told Hikari as they held hands, took a deep breath and went under. Nera had a wrist stop watch on and was timing Hikari. Thirty seconds in and Hikari was being to struggle a little bit but signalled Nera that she was okay, but after fifty seconds Hikari surfaced with Nera behind her stopping the time on her watch. "Nice job there Hikari, fifty seconds is good for your first try. I'm actually surprised at how well you can hold your breath." Nera said to her friend.

"Same here, I didn't believe I could hold my breath for that long either. It honestly felt like I was down there for less." Hikari stated as she regained her breath and held her hands with Nera's.

"Don't doubt yourself, you're doing great. All right here we go again." Both girls went under the water again and this time Hikari managed to break just over a minute. Nera was pleased with Hikari's progress and with going under three more times and each attempt being just over a minute as well, she decided it was time to move onto the next step.

"Okay next up will be you kicking your legs. You did great last time and I want to see you do it again. We'll do two pool length swims and then I'm going to give you a kickboard so you can try it by yourself, just remember not to panic okay Hikari. Now hold my hands." Nera told Hikari which she did since they were at one end of the pool and Hikari began kicking her feet in the water. While swimming backwards Nera was watching Hikari to make sure that nothing was wrong, but was happy with how her friend was doing and after a short while the pair reached the far end of the pool. "That's one pool length done, now for the way back." Nera monitored Hikari again and found nothing wrong. Finally back at where they started at, Nera handed Hikari a kickboard got out of the pool.

"Hikari, this time you'll be swimming by yourself. Just remember to hold on to the kickboard, keep going straight and come up for air." Nera told Hikari but just as she was about to start swimming; Hikari just seemed to freeze up for some reason. "What's wrong Hikari?"

"I-I…I don't know if I can do this alone. Last time I tried I… I." Hikari began remembering the events of that day many years ago and what had happened. Shaking uncontrollably she didn't notice Nera in front of her until she felt her hands on her shoulders.

"Hikari! Nothing bad is going to happen. Not because were in a pool; but because I'm right here with you. Tell you what; to make it easier I'll swim next to you how's that?" Nera asked concerned for Hikari's mental state and well-being.

"I guess that'll work." Hikari put her goggles back on, held tightly onto the kickboard and started to swim with Nera alongside her. Hikari was putting so much effort into her swimming that everything else almost seemed to be non-existent to her, so much so that when she hit her face against the kickboard not realizing she had done a full pool length by herself. "Did I just swim here…by myself?" Hikari questioned herself in disbelief.

"You did just that, but you got to keep going. I want you to be confident in doing it by yourself." Nera instructed Hikari as they set off again. The process went over again and again for around another ten minutes with some small breaks in between to catch their breath. As Hikari finished her last pool length swim Nera was jumping for joy at how well Hikari was progressing. "Hikari, do you realise what you just did? You just swam by yourself." Nera congratulated her friend who had tears building up in her eyes. Nera pulled herself out the pool and helped out Hikari as well and Hikari then bowed catching the purple haired diver off guard. "Hikari w-what are you doing?"

"I just want to thank you again for helping me Nera." Hikari said smiling.

"You shouldn't go thanking me yet Hikari, we've still got more to go through and that includes you swimming without any aids. No life-jackets, no kickboards, nothing at all." Hikari was almost scared at the prospect of that but for once in a long time, she had confidence in herself and it was all thanks to Nera. "I'm really surprised with how quick you're getting the hang of things in the water. I actually believed it would have taken much longer to get you comfortable in the water, but you rose to the occasion as they say." Nera complimented her student and friend.

"I know that and I'm looking forward to it, but there's something else I want to ask you; well a few things actually." Hikari rubbed the back of her head in embarrassment whilst Nera flung an arm around her shoulders.

"No problem, just ask away."

"Okay; well the first thing is… Can you help me get into cosplaying? It just seems really fun being an anime character." Hikari asked first of all.

"Sure thing, just ask me anytime for help and I'm there. Whether it's making a pattern; getting fabrics or making props. What's the other thing?" Nera asked Hikari back.

"Well maybe after you've taught how to swim, I thought maybe… You could possibly." Hikari started to feel nervous with what she was about to ask.

"Don't be scared, just ask me Hikari."

"Maybe once were done with the lessons now, I thought maybe you could teach me… Maybe you could teach me." It took a second for Hikari to compose herself but then the words were shouted out of her mouth. "MAYBE YOU COULD TEACH ME HOW TO FREEDIVE!" Nera was taking back at what Hikari had just asked as Hikari turned her back. Hikari was blushing crazily out of embarrassment and a million different thoughts were racing around in her mind making it hard for her to think and calm herself down properly.

"Sounds fun to me." Nera said surprising Hikari and as she turned around, she was met with the biggest and warmest smile she had ever seen.

"D-Did you just say y-y-yes?"

"I said it sounds fun to me. In fact I was maybe planning on asking you that after we finished with your swimming lessons, but it seems you beat to the punch." Nera walked smiled at Hikari making her do so as well and shortly afterwards the two came back out of the changing rooms cleaned up and in their regular clothes. On the way back home Nera began to ponder something and then just came out with it. "Do you want to sleepover at my place tonight?" Nera asked.

"Wait, what did you just say?" Hikari replied back unsure of what she heard was actually true or not.

"I asked if you want to sleepover at my house tonight. Come on it'll be fun." Nera pleaded to Hikari almost to the point that she would've given puppy dog eyes due to her bubbly and outgoing personality.

"Well I guess it'll be fun, why not." Hikari answered making Nera jump for joy.

"YES! This going to be awesome and don't worry about my parents, they're completely fine with it. Let's get going." Nera said running off.

"Sure thing." Hikari said catching up to Nera, both with smiles on their faces.

* * *

 **A/N Author's Notes:** I know it's the smallest chapter but it was the best I could come up with under the situation. I felt if I added more at the end then it wouldn't have been as good. Writing different variations ain't fun, but it was all worth it in the end. Hopefully you guys like this chapter and story so far. Hopefully next chapter will be back to normal length. Once again positive and constructive criticism only please, no negative comments and BS and thank you once again.

 **BVBwillow**


	8. Chapter 8: Fun & awkward sleepover

After running back to Nera's house, the two girls ended up running upstairs towards Nera's bedroom and fell on her bed laughing out loud. To Nera this was just another normal thing in her life, but for Hikari. It was something different in a long time.

"God Nera you run way too fast." Hikari sputtered out.

"That's not it, you're just slow." Nera replied back.

"Yeah, maybe that is the case. Hey weren't you going to let Gou know if you were going to join to swim club at some point." Hikari pointed out to Nera as her eyes widened and she face palmed herself.

"Aw man, how did I forget about that? Thanks for reminding me but what about you. What club are you in if you are in one?" Nera asked Hikari. Hikari soon hid her face behind her long turquoise coloured hair and Nera noticed that she began to somewhat shake in some way. "Hey, hey Hikari; what's wrong?"

Hikari turned around to look at Nera and her eyes were now slightly red. Tears were starting to fall from Hikari's emerald green eyes and instinctively grabbed a hold of Nera as if she was a little girl in nursery. Soon enough Hikari stopped crying and managed to explain what had happened to her when she was younger at school. "I was part of a school club once, it was back in middle school. Everything was all right at first until…she came." Hikari stopped herself midway through.

"Who; who was it?" Nera asked wanting to know.

"I'd rather not talk about it right now. Maybe later, but just…not right now. Besides we should be having fun right." Hikari tried brightening herself up much to the concern of Nera. However she decided to leave it be for now.

"Yeah you're right…wait a minute. What are you going to do about clothes for tomorrow?"

"Well if you want, we could walk to my house so I can grab what I need for tonight and tomorrow." Hikari offered in which Nera agreed to. "Don't worry about my Mother, I already let her know about what I'm doing tonight so we'll be fine. Let's get going." Hikari lied as her mother was away for another business conference and she didn't want Nera to worry about her problems as well. Walking towards the long turquoise haired girl's home was slight awkward for the pair as there was nothing but complete and utter silence, that was until they arrived at Hikari's house.

Walking in Hikari immediately rushed up stairs leaving Nera standing by the front door. Her purple amethyst eyes gaze and wandered around Hikari's house for a short while until the girl in question came rushing back down the stairs with a small bag in her hands.

"Ready to head back?" Nera asked.

"Sure thing." Hikari replied and locked the front door behind her and Nera. Walking back Nera tried to strike up conversation, but somehow felt that something she might say would upset Hikari in some way. "Hey Nera, is there something bothering you?"

"Huh-What?! No nothing, nothing at all. You have a nice house by the way." Nera stuttered out making Hikari laugh.

"Thank you, but is there anything else you want to say?"

"Actually there is. Seeing as how you want to cosplay, that means I have to get your measurements and that means…" Nera paused momentarily as she eyed up Hikari like a sly fox. "You might have to take off most of your clothes so I can get accurate measurements." Nera finished off while tickling Hikari's side making her jump slightly.

"You're kidding me right? Okay fine, but no pictures." Hikari stated making Nera laughed at that last little bit while she giggled ever so lightly. After a few minutes the girls arrived back at Nera's house to find Nera's parents Harumi and Kagura sitting in the living room. After saying hello and telling them about their day, the two teenage girls once again ran upstairs leaving the two adults alone.

"Hey Kagura."

"Mmn-Hmm."

"Was it just me, or did Hikari look like she was hiding something." Harumi asked her wife.

"I think you're right. There was definitely something she didn't or wasn't going to tell us." Kagura confirmed their suspicions.

"I know it's not our place to interfere, but she's friends with our little girl. Maybe we should talk to Nera and see what we can get out of her." Harumi suggested.

"I completely agree with you. However for right now we should let Nera handle it and maybe if it keeps going on, then will start looking into it ourselves. How does that sound?"

"Sounds like a plan, but for now. What are we going to for dinner?" Harumi asked Kagura.

As the two older women pondered down in the living room. Upstairs in Nera's bedroom, Hikari was standing in the middle of the room shirtless. She was still wearing her bra, but her arms were held out as Nera was gaining her measurements and writing them down in a small notebook. "Okay that's all of your measurements down, you can put your shirt back on now Hikari." Nera said putting her measuring tape away. "So now all you have to do is pick a character and we'll get started at some point."

"Thank you again Nera, but what cosplays have you done?" Hikari asked.

"I'm pretty sure you've seen them. It was when I brought you over here the first time and gave you that white swimsuit."

"I remember that, but that was only just a quick glance. I never got an actual…" Hikari started to think back to a few days ago. It then hit that she did have a look through Nera's cosplays. "Oh yeah I did, whoops."

"Well it doesn't matter now, just remember to pick a character that you really like and not let anyone else tell what to do." Nera reminded Hikari. "Anyway what do you want to do now?" Hikari thought about it for about two minutes, until an idea came into her mind.

"Do you think you could maybe teach the first steps of freediving?" Hikari asked Nera. Even though she was going to teach her, it still caught her off guard with how Hikari was wanting to get stuck in.

"Well that isn't really a good idea. You focus on getting better on swimming first, but I can teach you right at how to control your breathing and heartbeat. Even though I taught you some breathing exercises during your first lesson; these breath control exercises are somewhat different to that of swimming, in my opinion. It's a vital part of freediving in case of a regular dive and in emergencies." Nera stated. Hikari began to listen as Nera explained the exercises and procedures for free diving. She also explained and showed some breathing exercises to Hikari in order to get her to understand. At one point Nera had grabbed a hold of Hikari's hand and placed above her heart so she could feel how slow the beat was. What Nera didn't notice since she had her eyes closed was that Hikari was blushing like mad making her heart beat faster feeling Nera's.

'HOLY CRAP! I'm actually feeling Nera's heartbeat. I-It's so slow, but yet…so warm.' Hikari thought to herself, but the moment was cut short as Nera let go of her hand and opened her eyes, breathing once again.

"You felt how slow my heart was going right?" Hikari wasn't paying attention as she was too focused on her hand. "Hello, earth to Hikari. You still here?"

"Huh-what?! Sorry Nera what did you say?" Hikari said after suddenly waking from her daydream.

"I asked if you felt how slow my heartbeat was." Nera said again and this time Hikari nodded. "Okay now what I want you to do something for me."

"What is you want me to do?"

"First of, could you hand me over me white dive mask please?" Nera asked and Hikari did just that. The long purple haired girl put the mask on the top of her head and then handed Hikari over a stopwatch. "Now what I want you to do is to time me for a breath hold. Even though it might seem unnecessary, I want you to watch my breathing pattern closely before I hold my breath and then start the stop watch okay." Nera placed her favourite white dive mask over her face and lied down on her bed. Hikari took a seat on the chair next to Nera's desk watching over Nera. The free diving girl then began to take a few deep breaths and make her beating heart slow down. She was motioning to Hikari to pay attention to her chest and abdomen and how it acted. Soon enough Nera took one last deep breath and Hikari started the stopwatch.

Hikari then stared at Nera's slim but fit figure, but mostly payed attention to what wasn't covered of Nera's face and chest. She was blushing was again and got herself distracted from paying close attention to Nera as her mind began to run a mock. 'Oh wow! Nera looks amazing, even with a mask and clothes on. WAIT! Why did I just say with clothes on? I'm not that kind of person…am I? I know I've had these feelings growing inside of me but I've only known Nera for a short time. There can't be anyway that she would feel the same about me.' Hikari thought to herself completely unaware of what was going on inside of Nera's mind.

'Okay doing well so far. No noticeable urge coming up, so everything must be fine.' Nera thought to herself happy with her progress. However her mind so began to wonder off and centre itself on a certain turquoise haired girl. 'I hope she's paying attention to this, but…I also wonder what's being going on with her lately. Whenever we hanging out with each other, she just seems to start blushing at random. Is she…starting to have a crush on me? Wait a minute; why is my heart starting to race. I don't need to breathe right now. Better to be safe than sorry I guess.' Nera thought to herself as she breathed out once again, took off her mask and Hikari stopped the time on the stopwatch.

"So what was my time?" Nera asked Hikari as she looked at the displayed time.

"Two and a half minutes. That's really good isn't it?"

"Yeah it is, but I like I told you before. I can hold my breath for much longer. Now that I've done one…" Nera hoped off the bed. "I think you should give it a try Hikari."

"What! There's no way I can do it for that length." Hikari yelled out in shock with her eyes popping out slightly.

"I didn't say you'd have to match my time. You just focus on your own time and make sure you feel comfortable when you do so. Now go on and lie down on the bed, it'll be easier for you to do it and here's your mask. Want to make sure your nose is covered." Nera instructed as she handed over Hikari's new green framed dive mask. After making sure that she had adjusted her mask, Hikari lied down on Nera's bed. "Now just remember to pace your breathing to slow down your heart beat and take a few deep breaths before you start… and don't panic when you run out of air." Nera reminded Hikari.

After listening and watching to Nera's instructions, Hikari tried her best to slow down her heart beat and soon enough took a deep breath and so started her time. Unfortunately Hikari seemed to be struggling after thirty seconds even though both she and Nera knew she could remain calm for longer; however there was a reason for this.

'Oh wow, Nera's bed is so warm. It's like her positive attitude and energy was left here on purpose and is now resonating throughout my entire body. Now I want more…WAIT WHAT?!' Hikari's mind shook itself which in turn caused an even stronger urge for a fresh breath of air for Hikari. She decided to ignore this and Nera's warnings and press on, even though it was a bad idea. Soon enough Nera had seen enough and took off Hikari's mask from her face. The turquoise haired girl suddenly sat up breathing, and also questioningly looked at Nera.

"What did I tell you just now?" Nera somewhat scolded Hikari.

"Make sure I was comfortable and not forcefully push myself." Hikari reminded herself.

"Exactly; but you did just that. Imagine if you did that five or even ten meters deep underwater and multiply that by the amount of pressure on your body by being that deep. It wouldn't end well for you." Nera stated making Hikari hide her face in shame under the bangs of her hair. "Hey don't worry too much about it. Besides it was only your first attempt, you can practice as much as you want and at your own pace." The purple haired freediving girl reassured her friend.

"Thanks Nera, that's just made me feel a whole lot better."

"No problem."

"Girls! Can you two come down for second? We want to talk about dinner." Kagura shouted from the bottom of the staircase and shortly following that, both girls came down to the living room where they found Harumi and Kagura sitting on one of the couches. Seeing as how either Harumi or Kagura felt like cooking after the day they had, they decided to have some takeaway for dinner and asked the two teenage girls what they wanted. The decision was made for some good old fashioned pizza and after two pepperonis and a meat feast; it took around half an hour for them to arrive. As soon as they did all four of them dug in and in around twenty to thirty minutes, the three pizzas were gone.

"Thanks Mum, Mom. That was nice." Nera said to her parents.

"Yes thank you very much Mrs. Suzuha and Mrs. Su-uh…" Hikari stopped herself remembering that both women shared the same surname making them laugh.

"I told you this before Hikari. You can call us by our actual names, no need to be so formal." Harumi told her daughter's friend.

"S-Sure thing Mrs-Harumi, Kagura." Both adults smiled.

"See, now that wasn't so bad. Anyway you probably want to head back upstairs instead of hanging with us. Harumi joked and almost immediately afterwards the girls ran back upstairs to Nera's bedroom leaving both Harumi and Kagura alone once again.

Later on in the night Nera and Hikari were playing a few games on the PlayStation that Nera had when Hikari's phone went off. Putting down the controller and grabbed her phone, Hikari found a text from her mother. 'From Mother, what's going on?' Hikari mentally asked herself as she opened the message.

" _Hikari_

 _I hope you're keeping the house in order while I'm away with work. Just remember to have everything off and all doors locked if you're going for some time. I'll back around Monday morning, although I might be too tired do don't disturb me. Also we might have to discuss some things, nothing major but still none the less._

 _Mother."_ The message read as Hikari looked at it. Once again she felt rejected by her mother; not even a notice of " _take care of yourself_ " or an " _I love you_ ". It took everything Hikari had to not breakdown and cry right then and there; instead she simply shut her phone off and went back to the game with Nera.

"Who was it just now?"

"It just my Mother saying to be careful." Hikari responded.

"In fact I haven't met your mom yet have I. Where is she all the time?" Nera asked trying to hide her concern.

"Oh she's just so busy all the time. In fact it's so hectic for her at times that she almost sleeps for an entire day." Hikari fibbed to her friend.

"Really, she must love her work then to put in that much effort."

"Yeah she really does." Hikari and Nera kept playing, but shortly afterwards Nera came with an idea that seemed stupid, funny and fun all at once and Hikari spotted the look on her face. "Uh Nera; what…exactly are you thinking of right now?" Hikari asked slightly nervous.

"You see how my wardrobe is currently open right now. Well I just thinking of a small challenge between the two of us, with a small punishment as well if you want to look at it like that." Nera pointed at her open wardrobe.

"I'm not getting it. What's the punishment got to do with your wardrobe?" Slightly confused was an understatement in Hikari's case at that moment in time. Nera walked over and pulled two things out, but they were basically the same thing and Hikari recognised one of them. "Wait…Is that the thing you wore a few days ago down at the beach. Urgh what's it called again, um…That's it! A wetsuit." Hikari lightly yelled out while pointing at Nera's blue and white wetsuit.

"You got it and here's the challenge. Best two out of three games of Tekken and whoever wins two rounds is the winner, and the loser…" Nera picked up both her blue and white wetsuit as well as the black and a black and blue wetsuit. "Has to wear a wetsuit for the night." Nera stated with a sly fox like grin across her face while shock and slight but noticeable horror appeared on Hikari's.

"E-Even when we're…sleeping?" Nera slowly nodded her head making Hikari shake with nervousness, but she was having too much fun and decided to just go with it. "Why not, let's do this. I hope you're prepared to lose Nera."

"Oh you wish." Nera said rushing around her room waiting for Tekken to start up. As soon as did Nera rushed to pick Paul Phoenix whilst Hikari chose Asuka Kazama. The first fight was a complete white wash as Nera dominated Hikari winning both rounds and therefore the first fight, which in turn made Hikari change characters and went for Steve fox. The fight this time was much closer with both girls taking a round and then in the last round Nera missed with a kick and Hikari rushed with a combination of punches giving Hikari the win in the second fight.

Both girls made the decision to change characters again for the final fight but to make it more interesting, they would chose them by a random choice.

"Last fight Hikari, who do want to get?" Nera asked Hikari.

"I kind of want to get Christie Monteiro." Hikari stated. However the game wasn't generous and instead gave her Xiaoyu. "Ling Xiaoyu…eh not too bad I guess. What about you Nera?" She looked at her friend's face and found nothing but hurt as she saw her randomly chosen character.

"Not you, anyone…BUT YOU! Oh why…" Nera complained as it showed Alisa Bosconovitch. "I've never been able to play as her and now I have to against you and you got Xiaoyu, Aww man." It wasn't going to do her much good as the last fight was about to start. Pushing the buttons to get any sort of combo or momentum going Nera surprised herself by winning the first round. However it was a gigantic turn around as Hikari demolished the purple haired freediver in the second round; and so it came down to the last round to wing not only the fight, but the game as well. During the fight both girls kept bumping into each other in order to distract the other and in the last few seconds, it happened. Both of their health bars were extremely low and they each went for an attack in the air; however Nera was slightly quicker with the attack making her the winner.

"YES! HAHA WINNER! Now you have to spend the rest of the night in a wetsuit. Hope you're ready to try and get it on." Nera jumped around in delight as Hikari stared at the screen in shock thinking she had already won and dropped the controller. Nera picked the black and blue wetsuit and threw it on top of Hikari. "Come on, now the real fun can begin." Nera said with a smug look on her face, but underneath the wetsuit she could hear the faintest of giggles coming from Hikari making her smile. 'She seems to be a little more outgoing now. I guess it's kind of my fault I guess.' She thought to herself.

Hikari finally regained some of her composure and began to change. 'I wonder just how tight this going to be. Well only one way to find out.' Hikari told herself, but as she was just finished getting undressed she felt Nera's hand on her shoulder making her turn around and look Nera dead in the face. "What is it?"

"I know I said the loser has to spend the rest of the night in a wetsuit. However this just seems like too much fun, so I join in I guess."

"Wait…YOU'LL WHAT? So all of that and you're still going to do this?" Hikari screamed at Nera.

"Yep." Silence filled the room momentarily until both them burst out laughing to the point where they were almost rolling around on the floor. "C-Come on, let's these suits on." Nera pulled Hikari up and began to undress herself. After putting their clothes away, they each picked up their suit and began to put in on. Since Nera was so used to it she had no problem and had gotten it on up to her waist; however the same couldn't be said for Hikari as she had gotten one leg in but was struggling with her other leg.

"Hey Nera; do you think you could help me out here?" Hikari awkwardly asked Nera.

"No problem." Nera helped Hikari pulled the suit up her leg until her foot came out the hole and then seemingly almost yanked her up off the ground trying to get it up to Hikari's waist. Both were laughing as it went on.

"Thanks for the Nera, I think I can managed now." Both girls pulled up the top sections of their suits and slid the arms and hands into and through the sleeves. Nera didn't with no problems, but it some doing by Hikari but she managed to do it in the end. All that was left was the zip in the back.

"Let me zip you up." Nera offered which Hikari accepted and did just so, as did Hikari with Nera. Soon though both girls stood in Nera's bedroom wearing wetsuits and there wasn't even any water around. "Kind of feels like a strange new onesie don't you think?" Nera asked.

"I guess so, even though I've never actually worn one."

"Well anyway we should probably get some sleep now, I'll let you share the bed with me and I'm not taking no for an answer." Nera sta… no-demanded as she sat down on her bed. Hikari was feeling extremely nervous about this. Reluctantly she climbed onto Nera's bed and lied down next to her as Nera turned off the lights. "Goodnight Hikari." Nera mumbled out as she pulled the covers over her and Hikari and shortly afterwards fell asleep.

"Goodnight Nera." Hikari whispered and fell asleep as well, but not without another strange thought travelling throughout her mind. 'This feels nice, being in the same bed with Nera…WAIT A MINUTE! Get a hold of yourself Hikari, you're just friends.' She thought to herself as she drifted off into deep slumber but once again not without her rethinking about what she mentally said. Unfortunately she was just too sleepy to fight it. 'But I…somehow want to be more than that.'

* * *

 **A/N Author's Notes:** Once again another chapter is in the books. This one was a pain in the backside, but also a lot of fun to write. By the way I just want to mention this and if I already did then my bad.

I not a fan of the actual show, but I do have respect for what it's been able to achieve with its popularity. Also I lost a bet which I had to write a story in this series. Thankfully however the person who beat me (not going to say names) said I could write about anything I want so I went in this direction and I'm actually having a lot of fun doing Free World. Just wanting to let you lot know.

Once again positive and constructive criticism only, no negativity and I'll see you with the next chapter. Also just having major blockage with Asuna's secert so could be a while until a new chapter comes out for that just letting you know. Thank you once again.

 **BVBwillow**


	9. Chapter 9: (Meet-up)

As morning came around, Harumi and Kagura woke up. Kagura went straight to the bathroom to freshen up while Hikari walked to their daughter's room. Quietly opening the door her eyes widened slightly as she saw Nera and Hikari lying in bed arms draped over each other, but caught her off guard was the fact that they wearing wetsuits. Stifling herself she ran to the bathroom and grabbed her wife.

"Hey Harumi what's so funny?" Kagura asked confused. Opening the door she soon realised what Harumi found funny and started to giggle a little bit." Okay now that's…a bit of surprise." Kagura whispered as Harumi grabbed her phone and took a photo of the scene. Deciding to mess with the girls and not get caught Harumi and Kagura ran back to their room and get dressed for the day; but not without taking a quick little photo.

Hikari woke up a little later on and stretched out her body. She felt weird doing it in a wetsuit but it didn't bother her too much. Turning around she expected to see Nera awake as well, but she almost seemed dead in her sleep.

' _How can such a lively girl still be sleeping? Well I guess we were up a bit late.'_ Hikari thought to herself as she looked at herself in the mirror. 'So this is what it looks like wearing a wetsuit. Wow…it really does form itself to your body. It's kind of like a second skin, only slightly thicker. Now to get this thing off, wait how do I get this off…Crap!' Hikari panicked slightly as her hands and arms were waving behind her back trying to find something to grab or pull.

"Morning Hikari."

"AAAAAHHHHHHH!" Hikari screamed as she looked at Nera sitting cross legged on the bed. "Please don't scare me like that again Nera. Anyway can you please help me take this off?" Hikari somewhat pleaded.

"Don't worry; here I'll help you out."

"Thank you Nera." Nera stood behind Hikari and removed the velcro strap at the back of Hikari's neck and pulled the zip all the way down; once that was done Hikari was able to do the rest. She was about to help Nera but saw that she was able to do it herself so she got out of the wetsuit and dressed. Afterwards both girls went downstairs to the kitchen and found Harumi and Kagura discussing some things by the kitchen worktop.

"Morning Mum, morning mom." Nera said as she hugged each of her parents.

"Good morning Harumi, Kagura." Hikari said along with her friend.

"Morning girls. How did you two sleep?" Kagura asked as Harumi was starting to have trouble not laughing.

"We slept pretty…well. Hey Mom, what's the deal with Mum?" Nera asked noticing Harumi trying to hide her laughter, but soon enough she broke and burst out laughing.

"Oh I'm sure you did." Harumi said confusing both her daughter and her friend.

"Wait, what are you talking about?" Harumi loaded up the picture she took on her phone earlier in the morning and handed it to Nera. Her eyes nearly popped out of embarrassment as did Hikari's when she was shown the photo. "When did you take this Mum?" Nera cried out

"Just before you and Hikari woke up, but why were you wearing wetsuits in bed…Oh my, you made "that" bet with her didn't you Nera?" Harumi asked. Nera nodded her head making Kagura face palm and Harumi laugh a little bit more.

"Hey Hikari came a lot closer to beating me than you ever did Mum." Nera said as she began to explain what had exactly happened the night before. Harumi felt somewhat devastated and humiliated knowing that Hikari had come closest to beating Nera as Tekken, making everyone laugh as she crumpled to the floor in despair. After Harumi somewhat…recovered, she instantly left the room and went upstairs leaving her wife Kagura to deal with the two high school girls.

"So what you two going to be doing today?" Kagura asked. Nera was about to answer Hikari's phone went off. She pulled it out of her pocket and it showed that Gou was calling her, much to her surprise.

"K-Kou! How did you get my number?" Hikari said slightly confused.

"Hikari you gave me your number in middle school when we used to hang out with each other all the time, don't you remember?" Gou responded surprised by how forgetful Hikari was at times.

"Oh right, sorry about that."

"It's fine; anyway what are you up to?"

"I'm over at Nera's house right now, I slept over here last night."

"Wait WHAT! You slept over at Nera's house. What did you two get up to?" Gou asked shocked at what Hikari told her making Hikari blush like mad in return.

"We weren't doing anything okay! Besides why did you call me anyway?"

"Well I was wondering if you wanted to hang out with me today. See the thing is that all the boys are doing stuff today, even Chigusa is busy and I've got no one to hang around with; but if you're with Nera then maybe you and she can come join me. Please don't make me beg?" Gou pleaded with Hikari over the phone.

"Let me just ask Nera so just hold on." Hikari using her hand to cover her phone turned around and faced Nera. "Hey Nera, Kou's asking if…wait let me rephrase that. Gou's begging to see if we want to hang out with her today so what'd you think?" Hikari asked Nera unaware that even though her phone was covered, Gou could still hear her.

"I heard that and by the way… IT'S KOU! Not Gou, but KOU!" Gou shouted over the phone making Hikari and Nera laugh, but also making Kagura giggle as well.

"Well I guess we know what we're doing today, just ask her if we need to bring anything." Nera answered as Hikari went back to the call.

"Nera says she's up for it, so I guess I'm in as well. Is there anything we need to bring?"

"Oh my god thank you. Uh yeah actually, bring your swimsuits as I was thinking we could hang out at the school pool for a bit and don't worry about permission. Seeing as how I'm the swim club manager, Ms. Amakata allowed me and anyone I invite access any time as long as I'm there. So we'll meet up by the pathway next to the beach at let's say eleven-thirty." Gou suggested. Both girls looked at the clock and saw that it was currently nine forty-five so they had time to get ready.

"Sounds good so we'll see you at eleven thirty." Hikari told Gou.

"Great, see you later then." Gou hung up and Hikari put her phone back in her pocket. "Gou says we're heading to the pool so we've to take our swimsuits with us and we're meeting her down by the beach." Hikari informed Nera.

"Sounds like a plan. I'm going to the bathroom, I'll be back in a second." Nera said as she ran upstairs leaving Hikari with Kagura in the kitchen.

"So how was it sleeping with Nera last night?" Kagura asked her daughter's friend. The question wasn't meant to sound like how Hikari interpreted it in her mind making her blush.

"We didn't do anything inappropriate I promise." Hikari bowed apologetically making Kagura laugh a little bit confusing Hikari. "What's so funny?"

"I didn't mean it like that. I meant how was it sleeping over at someone else's house for what seemed the first time in a while." Hikari buried her face in her hands out of pure embarrassment.

"I'm so sorry Kagura, but it was fun."

"That's good to know. Hey if you're having any problems and don't feel like talking to your parents about it, come talk to anyone of us. I know Nera will help you and so will me and Harumi." Kagura reassured the young girl as she put her hand on Hikari's left shoulder.

"Oh-uh, th-thank you Kagura. I-uh...I best get my things ready." Hikari said as she ran upstairs just as Harumi came walking into the room. Not knowing why their daughter's friend was running off upstairs, Harumi slightly jumped to conclusions.

"What did you say or ask her Kagura?" Harumi asked concerned about what her wife might have just done.

"I just said that if she has any problems and didn't feel like sharing them with her family, then she could talk to us and obviously Nera about it and we'll help her out." Kagura explained to her partner which relieved her slight tone of panic.

"Oh thank god, I thought it was way worse."

"Hey I'm not going to force her Harumi. I just want her to know we'll be there for her, even though we aren't her parents." Kagura told Harumi.

Upstairs Hikari wasn't sure on how to feel with what Kagura just said to her. She felt happy that she had someone or some people to talk to now, but she felt that her problems were only hers to deal with that no one else should share that burden. The poor girl felt like crying but tried to manage and hide her feelings just as Nera came into the room.

"Hey is something wrong?" Nera asked feeling concerned.

"No I'm fine, just accidentally poked myself in the eye." Hikari lied as she giggled and making Nera laugh lightly as well.

"Seriously! You need to be more careful then, anyway let's get our things sorted. If I'm guessing Gou is probably still deciding which swimsuit to choose." Both girls laughed more as they got their swimsuits packed. Nera decided to put her white dive mask in her bag as well and as for her swimsuit, she picked out a back zipper, high neck one-piece neoprene blue swimsuit with white striping that she made herself. Hikari packed her green one-piece swimsuit and watching Nera made the choice to pack her green framed mask as well. "All right you all set Hikari?" Nera asked her friend who simply nodded in response. They grabbed their bags and walked down the stairs to the door, but not without Nera saying bye to her parents.

Walking down to Iwatobi high Nera and Hikari walked side by side and shortly afterwards they made it to the school's pool, but there was a small problem. Gou wasn't there yet. However after five minutes Gou arrived but Nera told Hikari not to say anything as she had something 'evil' in mind.

"Sorry I'm late guys, hopefully you weren't waiting too long." Gou apologised but she looked more scared when she saw Nera's face.

"I hope you are, we've been waiting here for almost an hour because of you." Nera said sternly making Gou drop to her knees begging for forgiveness. However she immediately looked up as Nera was laughing. "I'm only joking besides we just got here five minutes ago ourselves." Gou's face gave a grim look of disgust at what she just heard.

"I hate you Nera." The swim club manager simply said in a low voice.

"I'm sorry, but with that out of the way shall we go change." Nera walked off leaving both Hikari and Gou to catch up. In the changing rooms the three girls were standing in their underwear and had pulled out their swimsuits. Hikari quickly put her one on and was waiting for the others whilst playing around with the strap on her dive mask. Gou finished next as she wore a horizontal striped one piece swimsuit who seemed surprised as she finally had a good look at Hikari's new swimsuit.

"Wow Hikari, you good in that swimsuit." Gou complimented her old middle school friend.

"Oh-uh thank you Kou. I really appreciate it, Nera helped me pick it out."

"Did she now huh?" Hikari nodded her head but didn't notice that she was blushing unlike Gou. Soon enough though Nera came out in her swimsuit and holding her dive mask. "That's really nice swimsuit Nera."

"Thanks Kou, I made it myself." Nera told Gou surprising her.

"Wait you made that!?" Gou asked seemingly shocked and all Nera did was nod her head. "That's so cool. Maybe next time if I need a dress or something I could ask you to make one for me?"

"Sure thing; now enough of us sitting in here, let's get outside." Nera ran off towards the pool. Gou was walking behind Hikari and began to wonder about Hikari. 'How do you feel about her Hikari?' Gou thought to herself.

Nera was swimming back and forth down the pool while Hikari and Gou sat on the edge dipping their legs into the water. Hikari was still playing with her mask's strap just day dreaming, so much so that she didn't even realise that Gou was trying to ask her something. _'When was the last time I actually spent a day out with friends. Sure I've been hanging out with Nera, but just what about with others as well. Did I really seclude myself from the world and everyone just because of what happened and what's going on with mum?'_ Nera thought to herself.

"HEY HIKARI!" Gou shouted making Hikari jump.

"AH! Geez Kou; don't scare me like that."

"I didn't have a choice, you were day dreaming like crazy."

"Really sorry about that."

"No I should be sorry, it's just that I really need to ask you something."

"Okay…what is it?" Hikari wanted to know being slightly nervous if Gou was going to ask about her current family situation.

"How do you feel around Nera?" Gou asked Hikari catching her off guard. She was also thankful that Nera had just dove under.

"Huh… Wait WHAT?!" Hikari screamed back.

* * *

 **A/N Author's Note:** Once again back with another short chapter update. I tried to extend it somewhat but it just seem to look like filler in some weird way. More background content on Hikari will becoming up soon so hopefully you lot will be looking forward to that. Also as well still trying to make a new chapter for Asuna's secret and I feel that story is coming near to the end so be prepared for that.

Also I'm at uni or tec whatever you call it so sometimes it might take a while for a new chapter to come out just to let you all know. As per usual only positive and constructive criticism only please and I'll see you in the next chapter. Peace!

 **BVBwillow**


	10. Chapter 10: Weird thoughts & dreams

"I want to know how you feel about Nera. Ever since you two met, you're back to normal and seen even more happy or cheerful now since Nera's been around so I want to know how you truly feel. Please tell me." Gou almost seemed to plea asking Hikari about her feelings towards the purple haired free diver. Hikari's thoughts started racing out of control as she wasn't sure about how she actually felt. She honestly liked Nera but wasn't sure if it was just as a friend or if she wanted more than that. "Well how do you feel about her?"

"I… I don't know to be honest. I like having her as a friend a lot, but even though we've only known each other for such a small period of time I feel like…" Hikari stopped herself as she was trying to think of what to say next. "I honestly don't what to think right now. Maybe as time goes on then maybe a clearer idea might pop up, but at this point…I don't know." Hikari dropped her head causing the bangs of her hair to somewhat hide her eyes. Gou got closer to Hikari and wrapped an arm around her middle school friend's shoulders and tried to comfort her.

"I'm sorry about that, it's just that I'm curious you know."

"It's okay, I guess I'm still trying to somewhat get over losing my father that's all."

"How long has it been now?" Gou asked. Even though she herself was digging into something too personal.

"About a year and a half if I remember correctly." Hikari said thinking about how long it's been.

"I won't ask anything anymore. You can talk to me when you're ready…or maybe Nera." Gou said teasingly causing Hikari to blush slightly.

"Please don't, it's embarrassing when you say it like that."

"What's embarrassing now?" Nera asked as she hung her mask around her neck. Gou and Hikari screamed out of shock from Nera's sudden reappearance.

"DON'T. DO. THAT. AGAIN!" Gou growled out as she hated being scared like that. Nera just giggled as the other girls were trying to slow down their sudden racing heart beats. A short while later everything was back to normal. Nera had given Hikari a kickboard to she practice her swimming more. As the turquoise haired girl swam the length of the pool over and over again, both Nera and Gou watched on. "Wow you really have been helping her a lot. I remember she used to be terrified of the water when I first met her. Probably because I shared some past experiences with her when I shouldn't have, so it's more than likely my fault in the first place.

"Don't worry about if Kou. At least she's learning now." Nera said but soon remembered about Gou's offer to join the swim club. "Hey Kou, I didn't give you an answer to if I wanted to join the swim club when you asked me right?"

"Yeah that's right. Are you wanting to join?"

"Maybe but the thing is that I never swim competitively, I only swim and dive for the fun of it. So would you still have me join even though I wouldn't compete?" Nera asked Gou wanting to know her honest opinion.

"Of course I would. Another person to the club is great and even more so when it's a girl. I always feel lonely being the only girl; even though I'm the manager." Gou told Nera.

"I'll join as well." Hikari shouted out as well causing Nera and Gou to turn the heads towards her. "Even if I still can swim properly I'll join. If it's okay with you." Hikari told Gou.

"Well then girls, Welcome to the swim club. You'll be working with me…but you can also do your own thing as well. Just help me make sure to keep the guys on track with everything all right. I'll get you the papers to join the club tomorrow at school." Gou said proudly.

"Thank you Kou." Hikari politely said.

"Yeah thanks Kou." Nera said as she climbed herself out of the pool helping Hikari out as well. Just before the walked off however Hikari wanted to do something.

"Hey Kou, Nera." Hikari said causing the other two to turn around and look at her. "Do you…want to take a photo right now?" She asked slightly embarrassed, but it soon washed off as Nera ran over and wrapped one of her arms around Hikari's shoulders.

"Hey Kou hurry up, we all need to be in this." Nera shouted playfully.

"No need to shout." Gou said as she stood at Hikari's other side and waited at Hikari extended her hand out with the phone in it.

"CHEESE!" All three girls shouted as the photo was taken and the girls then walked back to the changing rooms.

A short while later all three left and went home. Hikari went back to Nera's house to pick up her things and after once again thanking both of Nera's parents for letting her stay over for the previous night she made her way back to her own house. When Hikari got back to her house, she found her mother's car parked up in the driveway so it showed that she was back and the smile that was on her face was soon replaced by a look of nervousness. Walking in, she found her mother once again sitting on the couch with her laptop sitting in front of her and a glass of wine at her side.

"Hello mother; how was your business trip?" Hikari asked trying to be polite.

"It went well and obviously you took care of the house for me like I asked." Her mother answered back.

"Did anything else happen when you were at the conference?"

"Hikari! I'm busy right now so could just leave me alone, thank you." Hikari's mother barked out at her with a hint of drunken slur behind her words. Not wanting to upset her mother anymore Hikari walked up to her room, shut the door and began to get her things ready for school the next day. Just before she fell asleep however, she looked at the recent photo she took.

"Thank you; and thank you…Daddy." Hikari said as she placed a kiss on a picture of her father that sat next to her on her bedroom table and fell asleep shortly afterwards.

~Time skip: Two weeks later~

After Nera and Hikari joined the swim club, everyone seemed to be more productive than usual. Hikari was helping out Gou with the times and other details, whilst Nera taught the guys more about breathing and heart rate control and surprisingly they all seemed to be close attention even Haruka was ignore the water and listening to the purple haired freediver's words. Nera also continued to help Hikari improve her swimming abilities and during this time, Hikari was way more comfortable than ever before. After the latest practice session was over the swim club left the school grounds and went their separate ways. Nera and Hikari were walking together talking about how well things were going in the club.

"I still can't believe you managed to get Haruka of all people to stay out of the pool and listen to you." Hikari told her friend still in a bit of disbelief.

"I'm kind of shocked as well knowing how that guy is. However what I'm most happy with is how well you've done Hikari." Nera said as she jumped onto Hikari's back laughing.

"Hey get off me, please don't make me drop you." Hikari pleaded with Nera.

"Okay okay, there you happy now." Nera jokingly pouted.

"Yes thank you. Say Nera, do you think I'm ready to start learning how to freedive now?"

"I believe so yeah, your times at breath holding definitely seem to show it and that you can swim now. However first off we need to finish off making our cosplays so you want to come over to my house?" Nera asked Hikari. Also during the two week span both girls had watched different animes and had decided on which characters to cosplay as. Both girls decided to cosplay from an anime they both liked and after drawing names from a hat, it was decided that it would been two characters from Fairy Tail. Nera already a Lucy Heartfilia from around a year before and so she would help Hikari make her Juvia Lockser cosplay.

"Yeah sure." Hikari said as both girls continued to walk towards Nera's house. Neither of Nera's parents were home yet so they had the house to themselves but immediately rushed upstairs to Nera's bedroom. Nera threw her school bag onto her while Hikari placed hers in a corner of the room. Nera then pulled out Hikari's entire cosplay. The outfit itself was completed which included the hat, but Hikari had just gotten the wig and needed help styling it. "All right here's the wig." Hikari said pulling the blue wig out of a plastic sealed bag.

"Thanks now I've got a wig cap you can borrow for now, just so we can see how it looks on you." Nera said as she handed over the wig cap to Hikari. After tying her up and putting on both the wig cap and wig itself, Nera grabbed some scissors and began carefully cutting away at the wig. Nera easily cut the length of the wig to how it was shown in the anime and now began styling it. Harumi and Kagura both soon came home. Kagura immediately went upstairs and heard a small bit of chatter and found Nera cutting Hikari's wig.

"Hi mum."

"Hello Kagura how are you?" Hikari asked slightly turning around to look at the brunette haired woman.

"I'm fine thank you. How is school and the swim club coming along?" Kagura asked intrigued.

"It's going great right now. Classes are going well and Hikari here can finally swim now." Nera told her mom with a smile on not only her own but Hikari's face as well.

"Really! Oh that's wonderful to hear, well done Hikari. Next thing you know Nera will be wanting to try and get you freediving." Kagura playfully said.

"Actually I asked her to teach me so I might have beaten to the punch."

"Now that is a surprise."

"What's a surprise Kagura?" Harumi asked her wife as she come up towards the conversation and soon found the same view. "Well that is a surprise."

"It's not this that's the surprise Harumi." Kagura told Harumi.

"Well what is it then?"

"Hikari here wants me to teach her how to freedive seeing as how she can swim now." Nera told her other mum Harumi.

"Oh wow! I guess we'll find out if our little Nera can make a good teacher; might even make a career out of it." Harumi said as she run over and began playing around with Nera's hair.

"Mum stop it. Anyway how have the photoshoots been coming along?"

"They're going all right, but the boss wants to try something different now."

"Really what is it?" Nera asked for everyone wanting to know what was going on with Harumi's job.

"Recently the boss gave me a promotion; which means is that I can now organise my own photoshoots with which ever models I would like and in any form as well." Harumi began explaining but was interrupted as Kagura kissed her on the lips.

"Congratulations hunny."

"Yeah congrats Mum."

"Well done Harumi." All three congratulated Harumi but she wasn't done.

"Thanks, but let me carry on. Anyway even though I can organise my own photoshoots the boss is organising one last one for me and get this; it's an underwater photoshoot." Everyone was surprised at this, but it was only going to escalate even further. "It gets even better, he said I can pick any models or just anybody I think would be greatly suited with something like this. So with that being said Nera; would like a small part time job in some ways as an underwater model? I'm not going to force or anything, it's completely up to you." Harumi offered her daughter shocking everyone. Nera stood there pondering on what to do. She had done photoshoots with her mum before it wouldn't be anything like this if she would accept it. It sounded like a great opportunity and it would give her a little bit of extra money as well, but there was also about what her other mom Kagura thought about it as well. After a short while Nera made her decision.

"If mom is all right with me doing it then yes." Nera told Harumi making turn towards Kagura.

"Well Kagura, would you be all right with this. Of course if she does do it then there won't be anything inappropriate at all." Harumi asked Kagura.

"If it was anyone else, then I would immediately say no. However since it's you then I have no problem so go Nera." Kagura told her daughter making a smile on her face.

"Really oh thank you!" Nera hugged both her parents.

"That sounds like fun Nera, I hope you do well." Hikari said to her friend.

"What are you talking about, I want to know if you'll take part as well? Seeing as how you two are such good friends now, I figured you'd have great chemistry working together so do you want to join us?" Harumi instantly thought she was most likely stutter and take ages to make her mind up, but to her surprise her daughter's friend instantly jumped up.

"Yes please! It would nice to try something different and new." Hikari told Harumi.

"Well that's great to know; it'll be a small wait so when I get more information I'll let you know when it happens. Now then do you want to stay for dinner Hikari, we're planning on having a nice take-away dinner tonight."

"Sure." Hikari simply answered.

"Great we'll order some pizza if you are wanting?" Both younger girls nodded their heads. "Good to know, and I take it Nera's almost done helping you with this cosplay of yours." Harumi said to Hikari.

"Yes were almost done with it. Just a little bit more styling on the wig and then all there is to do is try it on all together; I can't wait." Hikari said with excitement as Nera's parents smiled and walked off back downstairs to the living room. Nera and Hikari were still in somewhat shock knowing that they were somewhat now part-time "models" for Harumi. "I still can believe were going to be a photoshoot, let alone an underwater one."

"I know right. I kind of wanted to do it but wasn't sure what my mom was thinking until she said it, and you just jumped at it. Oh I can't wait for this thing, it's going to be great but for now; let's get back to this wig." Nera said as she continued to add finishing touches to Hikari's wig. After about another fifteen minutes or so Hikari was happy with how the wig came out.

"Wow it looks amazing." Hikari said in shock.

"It'll look even better if you give the whole thing a little try on right now." Nera told Hikari.

"I'll do it if you get into your cosplay."

"Deal!" Nera shouted as she pulled her Lucy Heartfilia cosplay out of her wardrobe. Both girls carefully put on their cosplays and soon found themselves looking at each other as their favourite Fairy Tail characters. Nera was wearing Lucy's outfit that Virgo gave to her during the dragon invasion, whilst Hikari was wearing Juvia's grand magic games outfit. "Come on let's go show my parents." Nera said as she grabbed Hikari's hand and gently dragged her downstairs. "Hey Mum, Mom have a look at this." Nera asked both she and Hikari came out showing off their finished outfits. It was needless to say that both Harumi and Kagura were both happy at how close their daughter and Hikari were as friends.

"Oh you two look absolutely wonderful." Kagura said as her hands were over her heart.

"Definitely." Harumi simply said as the doorbell rang indicating that the pizza had arrived. After paying the delivery boy everyone dug into the pizza and began talking about other things that were going on. Later on Nera and Hikari both changed back into their regular clothes and school uniform and Nera walked Hikari back to her house.

"Thanks again for helping me out Nera, I really appreciate it." Hikari told her friend as they arrived at Hikari's house.

"No problem besides, that's just what friends do right. Anyways I'll see you later okay." Nera said as made her way back home and Hikari made her way in. Getting back to her houses Nera told both her mothers that she was going for a shower and afterwards straight to bed. Stripping down and stepping into the shower Nera felt every bit of the warm/hot water running down her body cleansing her body, washing away any problems she had which were few anyways. Stopping the hot water she dried herself off, put on her pyjamas and went to bed. However it wasn't to say that there were some certain thoughts running through her head. _'Hikari, oh how I really like you…wait WHAT! Am I… Am I actually falling for Hikari?'_ Nera thought to herself as she woke up and felt her cheeks beginning to warm up. _'OH. MY. GOD! I AM FALLING FOR HIKARI!'_ Nera thought as she struggled to fall asleep for the rest of the night.

~Earlier on that night~

Hikari walked into her house and shut the door and once again found her mother fast asleep on the couch with her laptop and an empty bottle of wine sitting next to it as well. Closing the lid of the laptop and taking the bottle away, Hikari then pulled a blanket over her mother and left a small kiss on her cheek. "Good night Mum, I love you." Hikari quietly whispered as she made her way up to her bedroom and changed into her pyjamas and laid down in bed.

(Lemons begin)

Later on that night however the same thing was happening to Hikari as did for Nera; only this time it was a lot worse and also more… "hot". Hikari was so deep in her sleep that she didn't even realise that she took off her pyjamas leaving her bare naked but she soon woke up realising what had happened. "Wait why am I naked… OH NO! Was I dreaming about Nera again? I really have to try and get over it, but I just want her." Hikari said to herself as she blushed like crazy and her mind began to run off again, causing her right hand to find itself at her lower region and she began playing with herself.

Her fingers plunged deeper into her lower region causing her to moan and her left hand unconsciously began to fondle her breasts. Hikari's breathing was starting to get ragged and fast paced as her right hand was getting quicker causing her walls to tighten up, making the pressure build up as well. _'OH GOD! This is unbelievable. I don't to do this, but I just can't stop myself. It's almost as if my body is doing this by itself.'_ The turquoise haired girls were quickly cut off as she felt something going on inside her body. _'What's happening to me? I can feel… I can feel something coming up, oh god…oh god. I'M ACTUALLY CUMMING!'_ Hikari mentally screamed out as her the fluids in her body spurted out and and drenched her bed sheets. She would have changed them but Hikari was too tired to do anything except for fall asleep, but not without one last thought. _'I love Nera.'_

(Lemons End)

* * *

 **A/N Author's Note:** Yes I did put in exactly what you just read, and if anyone has a problem with it (unless it is constructive) then you can BUGGAR OFF! Any way I felt like putting somewhat of a time skip was somewhat necessary so please don't butcher me for it. I"m actually really happy with how this chapter turned out and hopefully you like it as well. So now the story rating will have obviously changed and some of you find that bad then I'm sorry but this is my story not yours (No offense intended).  
Once again people positive and constructive criticism only and I'll see you in the next chapter.

 **BVBwillow**


	11. Chapter 11: Standing up for yourself

Waking up the next morning earlier than usual Hikari began to remember what she had done the night before and instantly blushed bright red out of embarrassment. It was the first time anything like that had ever happened to her and she didn't know how to respond and recover from that. The turquoise haired girl changed her bedsheets with some clean ones and put the stained sheets in the washing basket. Changing into her uniform she packed everything she needed including with swimming gear in her bag, made herself some lunch for later and left her house earlier than usual. Walking along Hikari came by the beach and decided to sit on the sand and try to think things through until she would usually meet up with Nera. Thinking about what she did the night before only made Hikari question herself even more. If she did end up telling Nera about this, how would she feel about Hikari but what was even more worrying. What would her mother think of her in the state she had been in most recently, but after a small while Hikari made her way towards Nera's house. _'Oh boy, what am I going to say to Nera, let alone even look at her normal now after what I did.'_ Nera thought to herself whilst trying to render them obsolete for the time being.

~Meanwhile~

Nera was getting for school herself but kept distracting herself by thinking about the night before. _'Hikari, oh how I really like you…wait WHAT! Am I… Am I actually falling for Hikari?'_ _Nera remembered her thoughts and as she looked at herself in the mirror she noticed her cheeks were starting to blush. Nera gently slapped herself in the face to calm herself down and needless to say, it didn't work. "Why am I started to get these feelings for Hikari? I know for sure my parents never pushed it onto me, they've always told me to be myself and not change for anyone. Have they just been buried under who knows what; but do I really like Hikari, or do I…love her?" Nera questioned herself as she turned away from the mirror and packed her things for school. After saying bye to both of her mums Nera was walking towards where she and Hikari would usually meet up, but this time Hikari was just down the street causing Nera to run up to her. "Hey Hikari, I thought we were meeting up at the usual spot."_

 _"I know, but I was so busy last night that I didn't get enough sleep. So I figured I'd keep moving just try and keep myself awake this morning hahaha." Hikari lied to Nera afraid of telling her what really happened the night before._ _'What's happening to me? I can feel… I can feel something coming up, oh god…oh god. I'M ACTUALLY CUMMING!'_ _"Anyway we should get going." Hikari said just as she ran off leaving Nera to catch up for a change._

 _"Hey wait for me." Nera shouted out trying to catch up. Once the two arrived at Iwatobi high they both walked into the homeroom classroom and found Gou on her phone. "Hi…Kou, uh why are you panicking?"_

 _"I'm panicking because I forgot to tell you and the guys that we have a joint practice with Samezuka today after school." Gou seemingly cried to them._

 _"Samezuka-wait, isn't that where your older brother goes to?" Hikari asked trying to remember._

 _"Wait, Kou has an older brother?!" Nera shouted out loud not knowing this about Gou._

 _"Yeah it is and for your information Nera, his name is Rin. He might look intimidating at first but he's actually a really nice person; you'll actually get to meet him today as well." Gou informed Nera but before Nera could respond the rest of the class came in along with the teacher and so class began. However during homeroom Gou kept glancing at both Nera and Hikari and noticed something was…off. Whenever both of them glanced at each other, one of them would start to blush and try to hide with a smile or something and she caught this._ _'Yes! I knew there something more to this and I'm going to get to them bottom of it, one way or another. Or many more if possible.'_ _Gou snickered to herself as class resumed and as did the day for that matter._

 _~After school~_

Nera, Hikari and Gou meet up with the boys and with much reluctance from Haruka the swim club left for Samezuka. During their venture to Samezuka Gou kept glancing at both Nera and Hikari to see if either of them were reacting to each other in any way. Needless to say there were countless times were it occurred, whether it came from looking away immediately or blushing Gou noticed. A short while later the club arrived at Samezuka and shortly afterwards met up with the captain of the Samezuka swim club Seijuro Mikoshiba and standing right next to him was Gou's older brother Rin Matsuoka.

"Hi Captain Mikoshiba, hey Rin." Gou greeted the captiain and her older brother.

"Hey Gou." Rin said to her said with a near blank face almost matching Haruka's

"Hello Go-Kou, sorry about that." Seijuro corrected himself as Gou glared daggers at him because of her name, but then like Rin so both Nera and Hikari at the back of the group. "I take it you've gained some new members Kou-chan?" Seijuro asked being curious as Rin looked on. Gou motioned for both of them to come forward.

"These are our new members, Nera and Hikari. Guys this here is the captain of the Samezuka swim team Seijuro Mikoshiba and this here is my brother Rin Matsuoka." Gou said as she introduced the two older boys to the girls. After introducing themselves to each other the collective group all went off towards the changing rooms apart from Nera, Hikari and Gou as they waited outside for th eboys to be done. Makoto said the changing rooms were now free, but as they went in they ran into Seijuro again. "Seijuro is something wrong?" Gou asked.

"I don't mean to be rude but you look awfully familiar Hikari. Were you friends with Gou... I mean Kou before now?" Seijuro asked even knowing that he might be walking himself into a whole world of trouble.

"Yeah we were friends back in middle school. We spent a lot of time hanging out with each other before some-family issues came about." Hikari told Seijuro; of course leaving out the fact of what happened to her father.

"Ah I see, I figured you looked familiar somehow. Anyway I apologize for delaying you three so I'll let you get changed now." Seijuro said as he left. The girls were together getting changed and just they had finished putting on their swimsuits, Nera pulled out her white diving mask whilst Hikari pulled out her green framed diving mask.

"Uh why did you bring those with you?" Gou asked.

"Well Kou, I'm going to start teaching her how to freedive seeing as how she asked me. I'm going to talk to Seijuro and the others about it and let them know what we're going to be up to." Nera said as pulled her mask over her head and let it hang from her neck. "You ready to get going girls?" Nera asked with a skip in her step.

"Yes let's start." Hikari simply said as she walked off with Nera leaving Gou behind.

"Hey wait for me jeez." Gou grumbled as she grabbed her trusty clipboard and joined everyone boys of Iwatobi and Samezuka were all standing at the far corner of the hall by the pool talking about recent and upcoming competitions and noticed the girls walking up to them. The Iwatobi swim club knew what Nera and Hikari were planning to do since Nera had told them on the way up, but she had yet to tell Seijuro and the rest of the Samezuka team just to make sure it was all right with them.

"Hey girls, I take it you're going to start teaching Hikari now?" Makoto asked Nera.

"Yeah I am."

"Wait, teach her what?" Rin asked not knowing what was going on.

"Didn't your sister tell you that I'm a freediver." Nera told Rin and the rest of his team.

"A freediver, what in the heck is that?" Rin asked and that's when Nera explained it to him.

"A freediver is someone who swims underwater to a great depth or whatever the case maybe on one single breath of air. I don't do it for competitions and records, I just do it because it so fun and relaxing. Being able to be underwater for a long time, feeling the currents themselves as well as all the fish in the water and exploring as well." Nera said whilst daydreaming to herself.

"What an explanation, simply beautiful." Rei said once again earning himself a small smack on the back of his head from Nera.

"How many times have I told you now, you're not allowed to say things in that way with that "weird pose" of yours about my freediving. It makes me concerned about you." Nera playfully said making Rei apologize to her and everyone else laugh.

"And let me guess you want to know if it okay with us." Seijuro said wanting to confirm his suspicions.

"Yeah if it's not too much trouble?"

"Fine by me, just make sure to watch out for us coming when were practicing as well okay." Seijuro told Nera who thanked him along with Hikari and soon walked off to the far end of the pool. The two teams were figuring out how to organize their practice session; and it was decided that each member of both teams that did the say stroke would go at the same time almost as if it were a race but not entirely. Rei would race with Sosuke, Nagisa against Nitori, Makoto against Seijuro and finally Haruka one on one with Rin which unfortunately for Mikoshiba left him out for now so he would be timing his fellow teammates while Gou would time her team. Seijuro had just finished stretching and noticed both Nera and Hikari sitting down on the floor by the edge of the pool at the opposite end. He didn't know what and it proba-most definitely wasn't his place to budge in, but his curiousity struck in and went to talk to Gou about it. "Hey Go-uh Kou-chan! Can I ask you something?" The Samezuka captain asked Rin's sister.

"Seijuro, once again I'm not-" Gou said until being interuppted.

"No no it's not that. It's actually about those two down there." Seijuro pointed towards Nera and Hikari making Gou turn around.

"Nera and Hikari, what about them?" Gou asked really confused.

"Did you notice anything between those two that was strange?"

"Strange?"

"As in any sort of...connection between them." Seijuro stated.

"Well all I know and believe is that they are really good friends to each other. Especially since Hikari hasn't had an easy life recently. OH CRAP!" Gou put her hands over her mouth knowing she said something she shouldn't have.

"What do you mean by that?" Seijuro really wanted to know now.

"Please Seijuro just forget what I said. As far as I know they're just friends and that's that, anyway let's get practice started shall we." Gou said walking leaving the Samezuka captain standing there by himself confused. _'What did she mean by not having an easy life recently.'_ Seijuro thought to himself before wandering back to the others.

Meanwhile Nera and Hikari had just gotten into the water. Having gone over the exercises of breathing and slowing down their separate heart beats, they were both getting ready to go under as they held onto the ladder by the pool's edge. Nera had put her mask on her face and was taking in deep breaths whilst Hikari was just getting ready herself, but was worrying about something. In fact a few things. _'Okay Hikari you can do this, just remember deep breaths and most importantly; remain as calm as possible. If anything happens Nera is here and besides it's only in the pool but what if it was in the ocean...Forget that it's going to be all right.'_ Hikari mentally told herself as she put her mask on her face and got ready as well; that was until. _"Daddy!"_ Hikari heard a small child screaming, it was almost as if it was a little girl. "Huh!? What was that?" Hikari asked herself looking around realizing she was there was no children around.

"Hey Hikari is there something wrong?" Nera asked slightly worried.

"I thought I heard something or rather someone. I guess it was just my mind playing tricks with me, anyway should we start now?" Hikari asked Nera.

"Yeah let's do it. Just remember, be calm." Nera reminded Hikari as they took their last few breaths and went down under the water hanging onto the ladder. Nera was staring into Hikari's eyes but soon closed her eyes causing Hikari to slightly blush. Nera pointed to her ears motioning for Hikari to close her eyes and listen as well. Hikari just that and after a few seconds she understood why Nera told her to do this. Listening to the water splashing around on the surfaces due to the other swimmers and the other noises down there made somewhat of a nice sound to her ears even with how deep they were and also how the water felt around them. Instead of crushing her like Hikari initially thought she felt like it was more of, wrapping her in a strange & weird embrace. _'It's actually kind of soothing down here. Not hearing the rest of the world and anyone else and their problems was really nice and also not being pushed around; I feel like I flowing with the water itself. If this just the pool, I wondering what the ocean is going to sound and feel like.'_ Hikari thought to herself but was soon cut off from those thoughts as she felt something or someone poke her. Opening her eyes she saw Nera gesturing to head up to the surface and then Hikari felt like she had near to now air left in her lungs and the two of them made their way up to the surface. Breaking the surface Nera and Hikari breathed in the fresh air refilling their lungs. Hikari out her mask on the top of her head and looked at Nera. "So how did I do?" Hikari simply asked.

"You did really well. You nearly broke the two minute mark on your first try, but you start to blow air out around a minute and a half." Nera told her friend and freediving student. "Was there something wrong down there?"

"Nothing was wrong, I guess I was just caught with listening to the sounds of the water and the feeling of it being that deep under it. I don't why but it just felt so...amazing, wonderful I-I-I honestly don't know how to even describe it." Hikari said completely unaware that she had a big smile on her face unbelievably.

"I guess that's what being underwater does to you. To me it's like a whole other world, I know it sounds cliche but it just does. It's like I'm a physical part of it and its welcomed me in or I might have been a part of in a different life and it welcoming me back home. However I have to remember that it can change at any moment and become the most dangerous thing ever and you have to as well." Nera said making Hikari nod in agreement. "All right let's keep going and do this a few more times, just this time keep your eyes on me and not try and blow air our even if it's by accident." Nera instructed Hikari and after putting their masks back on and a few deep breaths later, they went back down again. Once again Hikari reached limit at around a minute and a half to a minute forty-five seconds and this kept going until Nera deemed they were done seeing as both swim teams had just finished. "You did great to day Hikari. Next time we're going to try and see if you can break the two minute barrier and also how to swim with fins."

"Thanks for that Nera but what exactly are fins?" Hikari asked not knowing what Nera was talking about.

"Fins are what you put on your feet if you're either scuba diving. Snorkeling or freediving. It helps with propelling you through the water when you kick and there even though most look like the same, there are different fins for different purposes but I tell you next time we go to the swim shop in the city okay; oh and also we will need to get you a wetsuit as well." Nera told Hikari as they finished drying off and began getting changed back into their school uniforms.

"No problem and thank you again Nera." Hikari thanked Nera.

"Hey you two about done in their." Makoto shouted out into the changing rooms as he and the others were waiting on the two girls outside. Hurrying up Hikari finally got changed back into her uniform and so enough her and Nera met up with the swim club, once again thanked Seijuro and the rest of the Samezuka team for letting the club practice with them and then wandered off back home. On the way back to their houses the swim club was chatting about many things throughout the different conversations going on. Nera and Hikari were quietly talking about their upcoming photo-shoot with Nera's mum Harumi, that was until Hikari heard a voice call out to her. " Hey Hikari, yoo-hoo over here Hikari." Someone sounding like a girl called out and when Hikari turned around as did the others, they saw it the group that was bullying Hikari recently. "Hi Hikari how come you haven't called us lately huh?" the lead girl asked pretending to be concerned.

"You know for I fact I don't have any of your numbers and I never want them Saya. Anyway what do you want?" Hikari retorted back at the lead girl known as Saya.

"Come on don't be like that. We just need a favour from you." Saya said smirking at her victim.

"What is it then Saya?" Hikari asked back not wanting to deal with this.

"Me and the others here accidentally spent our money at an arcade and we don't have any to get a bus back home. There's a bank near here so how about you ditch these losers and come with us and help out your true friends." Saya asked Hikari smirking thinking that the turquoise haired girl would instantly cave in to her demands.

"No!" Hikari simply stated shocking Saya and her friends (/followers). Nera, Gou and the boys were proud of her for finally sticking up for herself.

"Wait a minute; what did you...just say?" Saya asked not believing what her ears just heard.

"I said no; now just go away and leave me alone. I never wanted to be friends with you and I never will be, come on guys lets get out of here." Hikari said as she began to walk off along with Nera and the swim club. Saya however wasn't having any of it and grabbed Hikari by the scruff of her neck forcing her to look face to face with her.

"Now you listen here you ungrateful little bitch. I've been very easy going with you but now, now seem to have some sort of courage and talk back to me. TO ME! You better do what I say or I will make it my personal mission to make you suffer and grovel at my feet." Saya growled at Hikari slightly scaring but Saya was soon pulled off Hikari with force by Nera. Saya looked up seeing the usual cheerful and free flowing girl stand above her with a look of anger on her face. "Who the-Who do you think you are!? Huh; You don't put your hands on me otherwise I might get-" Saya was cut off again as she was pushed to the ground again by Nera.

"No! You better listen to me now. Hikari has had put up with your torturing and bullying forever. However thanks to her real friends she is no longer the shy, timid and scared little girl you used to bully. Now she is a strong person who want put up with it and neither will I!" Nera screamed at Saya as she was picked up off the ground by her group.

"Oh really and what are you going to do about it?" Saya asked trying to call Nera's bluff but before Nera could retort, another voice came into the discussion.

"I'll be calling the police on you girls for harassment." Everyone turned around and found not one but two women walking towards them and it just so happened to be Nera's parents Harumi and Kagura.

"And let me ask but just are you two old hags huh?" Saya said trying to sound tough.

"We're Nera's parents and if you don't believe I'll call the police then don't you stay here with us and find out." Kagura said as she pulled out her phone and began to dial the number for the police causing Saya and her posse to run off. Watching that Kagura put her phone away and turned towards Nera and her group of friends. "Are you and your friends here all right Nera?" Kagura asked sounding concerned.

"I'm fine Mom and thank you for helping us." Nera said as she hugged Kagura.

"Anytime, now then aren't you going to introduce us the rest of your friends here?" Harumi asked her daughter.

"Oh yeah sure thing. Guys I'd like for you to meet my parents Harumi and Kagura Suzuha." Nera introduced her parents to the swim club.

"It's nice to meet you." Gou politely said while gently bowing in front of them. The boys however were slightly confused with the situation seeing as how they've never someone's parents who were the same gender. The two older women stood slightly giggling knowing that this kind of reaction could have or probably would've happened and it did. None of the boys knew what to say and finally it was Makoto who broke the silence of them.

"So wait, both of them are your...parents?" Makoto asked Nera not knowing what to think.

"Yup they are. Is there a problem with that?" Nera teased Makoto making a slightly angry face causing the tall swim captain to wave his hands on defense.

"No not at all; there's no problem what so ever." Makoto pleaded to Nera bu soon saw that familiar smile on her face.

"Makoto it's completely fine, I'm not offended at all and I doubt my parents would be as well. As for the rest of you I can tell you can't think of anything to say right to so I'll just let you think about that and you can tell me at school next week okay." Nera told the others who simply nodded and after introducing themselves to Nera's parents, they walked off back to their homes as did Gou leaving Nera, her parents and Hikari standing by the road.

"Well with that out of the way how about we drop you off back home Hikari?" Kagura offered Hikari who gladly accepted and the four of them soon drove off. During the ride to Hikari's house Harumi told the girls that everything was set up for the photo-shoot and that it would be taking place the next day causing the teenage girls to squeal in excitement. Soon enough Nera and her parents dropped off Hikari at her house and told her to be ready in the morning as they would be picking her up then and Hikari ran into her house to get her things ready and for bed as well. The Suzuha family finally arrived home and after a simple dinner Nera immediately up to bed. "Hey Harumi, I've been thinking about something."

"What is it?" Harumi asked her wife.

"I think you might be right with how Hikari might be hiding something. Something is telling me that she wants to talk about it but..." Kagura was interrupted by Harumi.

"But she feels that if she does; she'll be in serious trouble from her parents right?"

"Yeah; hey maybe we should talk to Hikari's parents sometime soon and see what is going on." Kagura suggested being concerned for the safety of Nera's friend.

"I think that's a good idea, but for now let's get some sleep. We've got a big day tomorrow." Harumi said as she and Kagura locked all the doors and went to bed as well.

* * *

 **A/N Author's Notes:** I'll admit this chapter was a pain in the backside to write out. I tried so many formulas and ways of going about it that it honestly drove to insanity. However I'm quite pleased with how it turned out, even though the ending might be a little lack luster. Finally done with Uni for the year so will have possibly more time to write depending on what I do. Once again positive and constructive criticism only please and thank you for reading this story.

 **BVBwillow**


	12. Chapter 12: Photoshoot

At three in the morning Harumi and Kagura were trying to quietly rummage around and organize the equipment they were going to use for the photoshoot later on in the day, All the boxes had things like blue and green screens, camera equipment and scuba equipment; not to mention the costumes for the shoot as well. Harumi put the air tanks in the boot of the car and started helping Kagura getting the boxes in the car as well. Once everything was packed away in the car the married couple went back to bed to try and get whatever sleep they could. However before either of them could fall asleep Harumi asked her wife something.

"Are we going to ask Hikari about her family situation Kagura?" Harumi asked the brunette once again sounding concerned.

"What do you mean about her family situation?" Kagura replied back.

"Kagura you know what I'm talking about." Harumi emphasized to Kagura who realized what Harumi was on about. Even she herself wanted to know what was going on as well, but she felt like it was invading the privacy of their daughter's friend.

"I understand what you mean but... I feel like were diving into something that we shouldn't be doing so."

"I know that but even if she's only friends with our little girl; it feels like she's now part of our family in some way and I just want to help in any way possible." Harumi quietly pleaded to her wife to understand how she felt and all the brunette did was simply smile back at her year older spouse.

"You truly are the most wonderful person I know Harumi. Always wanting to help someone, but like I said before we should force this. If Hikari needs our help, we can only hope that she feels she can come to us for it and Nera is here as well. Kagura explained to Harumi.

"Okay I get your point: Stay. Out. Of. It! anyway we need to get some sleep, we've got a bid day today." Harumi kissed Kagura on the lips and they fell asleep. However unbeknownst to them Nera had been eavesdropping in on her parents after she had gone to the bathroom. She was really surprised with what they were talking about, but even more so that she hadn't even noticed anything wrong with her friend in a while apart from dealing with her bullies. Nera wandered back to her bed and started to mentally interrogate herself. _'What was that about? Hikari possibly having...family problems. I need to find out for myself and her as well. Hikari, I really hope you're okay'_ Nera thought to herself before once again falling asleep.

Somewhere around nine in the morning both Harumi and Kagura were up. Harumi had just finished her breakfast and freshening herself up when she took the car and drove to the photoshoot location. A little bit late on Nera had awoken and walked down stairs and found Kagura still in the kitchen. "Morning Mom." Nera said with a small smile.

"Morning sweetheart. How did you sleep?" Kagura asked unaware that she heard everything from earlier on in the morning.

"Not good. I kept thinking I was falling out of bed multiple times." Nera lied to her mum.

"That isn't good, anyway there are some scrambled eggs and toast for you." Kagura offered the plate forward to Nera and watched her instantly scoff it all down and then head back upstairs to get somewhat ready for the busy day ahead. Once she was done both she and her mom had to wait on Harumi getting back so they could go and pick up Hikari. However there was a knock on a door and when Nera opened it, she was quite surprised when she saw Hikari on the other side.

"H-Hikari! What are you doing here, I thought we were going to pick you up?" Nera asked her friend.

"I know, but I was just too excited for today so I figures to save you the trouble and come here instead. Can I come in?" Hikari explained to Nera who let her into the house. Waiting for Harumi to get back Nera kept glancing over at Hikari over and over again thinking about what her parents were talking about. 'I'm pretty sure they're just exaggerating things as usual. Besides it's a somewhat of a parents job to do so, even with their kids friends, but still. I can't help but think about if what they were saying is true. Please let me in and help you Hikari if you need it.' Nera was soon snapped out of it when everyone heard a car pull up. Hearing the car everyone else grabbed everything else they needed and made sure everything was switched off and locked before getting in the car. The ride to the photoshoot was somewhat awkward for Nera as time after time she kept sneaking a peek over at Hikari and for the most part, she was blushing. Soon enough though the torture in her mind ended as the car came to a stop next to the newly renovated Iwatobi swimming club pool. Walking into the building Suzuhas and Hikari wondered into the female changing rooms but Nera and Hikari waited until the older women finished first. Harumi was wearing a short arm and leg sleeve wetsuit while her wife Kagura was wearing a black bikini and a white rash guard shirt. Walking out to the pool the Suzuha family began to set everything up whilst Hikari stood to the side not wanting to get in the way in case of breaking anything but half an hour later the equipment was setup; now all that was left was the girl's outfits and make-up.

"Okay so what is it we're wearing for this photoshoot?" Nera asked her parents. Kagura then brought out a box and pulled out an outfit that looked like it was azure blue in colour and it seemed to be in an Arabian style with all the gold decorations hanging off in several places.

"We're doing an Arabian princess themed photoshoot with you two and it's going to both above and under the water. When in the water you'll be wearing masks for some of the shots but we will tell you when to take them off, so go get changed so we can get a start on hair and make-up." Harumi explained to Nera and Hikari. A few minutes later the girls came out in their outfits. Nera was wearing the azure blue outfit and Hikari's was the same outfit but it was an emerald green colour and it seemed to blend in with her slightly. "Oh my god you two look good, okay now we need to sort out a small bit of make-up and then we'll get started." Harumi said as she and Kagura got to work on the girl's make-up and shortly afterwards the girls were ready to begin. "Okay Nera, Hikari the first half you're going to be poolside. I want you two to stand in front of this green screen and try to pose as naturally as possible. Nera you're used to use with your cosplays so be sure to help out Hikari with her poses." Nera nodded and a few seconds the shoot began. It was quite tricky for Hikari at first not knowing how to pose exactly even with Nera's tutelage and not forcing a look on her face as well. At one point she felt like a big mess wanting to run off, until Harumi said something to her. "Hikari; it's okay to mess up. Believe me I didn't know how to do any of this when I cosplayed the first time. Just be you and it'll be fine." Nera tried to cheer up and Hikari and it sort of worked, she looked a lot less stiff & forceful and was now more flowing and free you could say and it was showing with the pictures. After a while the girls were instructed to sit on the edge of the pool for the next portions of the surface photoshoot and whilst Kagura was assisting her wife, she noticed two people standing at a window further down the hall and recognized them as another person came up.

"Don't mean to interrupt Harumi but girls, are those your friends from the swim club over there?" Kagura asked Nera and Hikari. Looking over to where Kagura was pointing at they noticed nearly all the club members staring at them through the window with a look of surprise and slight confusion on the faces. Nera was slightly blushing but Hikari's face on the other hand almost went completely red out of embarrassment as she tried to hide behind Nera. Kagura left the club members in although it took a bit simply because of Haru but afterwards they came forward towards the other two members of their club and had a closer look at what they were wearing.

"What in the heck are you two wearing?" Gou asked her friends.

"It's supposed to be something like an Arabian princess or something like that according to my mum." Nera told the others while Hikari was still trying to hide behind her.

"I think you two look great. Weird, but great nonetheless." Makoto complimented but almost got blown into the pool by Nagisa; both figuratively and literally.

"Great doesn't come close. You and Hikari look amazing!" Nagisa shouted out as lunged to hug the girls only to be held back by both Makoto and Gou.

"Absolutely beautiful." Rei once again said in a weird way earning him a smack on the back of his head from Nera, it made everyone laugh but Nera soon noticed that Hikari had disappeared off somewhere.

"Hey wait a minute… where's Hikari?" Nera and the swim club began to look around but stopped as Kagura shouted out that the girl in question was in the changing rooms. Seeing as how the boys couldn't go in Nera and Gou went with Kagura to see what was wrong with Hikari whilst the boys stayed by the pool with Harumi. Finding Hikari she told them how embarrassed she was of being seen like this and didn't want anyone else from school to know. Unbeknownst to them she also didn't want her mother to know as well in case of what she might do. After a few encouraging words from Nera, Gou and Kagura, Hikari came back out with them and apologized for running off. Harumi told the teens that she had gotten all the photos she needed for the surface portion of the shoot and it was now time to get into the pool. Just as Nera and Hikari got into the pool their friends began to head back to the other pool hall until Harumi gave them an offer.

"Hold on you lot, why stay and watch?" Harumi offered the swim club in which caught them by surprise as well as Nera and Hikari. The club was about to declined however Haru as usual jumped into the water and figuring that it was going to be near on impossible to get him out, they agreed to hang around. The boys got into the pool but Gou didn't seeing as she couldn't swim and Kagura noticed.

"Don't you want to join them?" Kagura asked Gou.

"I want to, but I… I can't swim." Gou replied but Kagura had a solution to that as she gave Gou a mask catching the burgundy haired girl off guard. "What's this?"

"That is a diving mask, so how about you come in and I'll make sure your safe."

"How?" Kagura extended a second regulator from her dive tank.

"Put this in your mouth and breathe through it. With that you'll be able to watch the girls under the water." Kagura told Gou who took it nervously as she put her mask on and climbed into the pool and held onto Kagura's BCD as they sunk into the water, even with her eyes being nearly welded shut out of fear. Arriving at the bottom of the pool she fearfully opened her eyes still breathing from the secondary regulator and looked on at her friends whilst the boys floated above her. She couldn't believe what was going on and somehow-she didn't want it to stop. _'Why? Why am I beginning to… enjoy this?'_ Gou mentally questioned herself.

Ignoring the stares from everyone else and paying attention only to the camera held by Harumi, Nera and Hikari began to pose once again as they somewhat "danced" in front of the green screen in the pool. Every so often they would signal for some air and both Harumi and Kagura came up to them to let them breathe. Nera caught a glimpse not only of Hikari, but Gou as well and looked like they were finally enjoying themselves. As the shoot went on the boys continued to look on at the purple haired free diver and her turquoise haired pupil in amazement. Makoto, Nagisa and Rei were talking about how amazing it was to see Nera and Hikari like this all the while Haru kept looking on at the girls. Nagisa then came up with some idea of having Nera and Hikari doing something like this but with Gou as well to promote the swim club but it was quickly shot down by the other two. After a good hour and a half the photoshoot ended as everyone was gathered around the edge of the pool.

"Great job today girls. Once I get more info about wages I'll be able to pay you two, why don't you get changed and we'll celebrate with something nice okay." Harumi said to Nera and Hikari as they smiled with joy at the day turned out. Nera and Hikari stood under the running shower as the hot water poured down onto them while Nera's parents looked back on the photos and the swim club went off to change as well to join their fellow members. "What do you think Kagura, great huh?" Harumi asked her wife even though she kind of knew what answer she would give.

"They look stunning especially when they hugged each other." Kagura pointed out looking at a few specific shots of the girls. It almost looked to natural to be even considered fictional at some points _._

"All right hun, lets pack up the gear and then we'll head off." Harumi and Kagura began to pack everything away into the designated boxes. A little while later Nera and Hikari stood outside the pool hall talking to the rest of the swim club.

"That looked amazing down there." Makoto said with a smile and almost again getting knocked over by Nagisa.

"It was awesome to see you two like that!" Nagisa nearly screamed out. Rei nodded in agreement knowing who could get another smack on the back of his head and he didn't another one of those today. Haru as usual didn't say anything.

"Sorry we ruined your practice today." Hikari apologized lightly along with Nera.

"Don't worry about it. It's just one practice and besides we have school on Monday and we can practice then. I still can't believe I was breathing underwater, I thought for sure I was going to drown a few times down there." Gou stated still in slight shock.

"You were always safe as long as my mom was around. She helped me a lot with pacing myself in freediving and other things as well. My other mum as well has taught me a lot of things as well and let me be myself and for that I'll always love them." Nera said reminiscing about things in her early life with Harumi and Kagura, completely unaware that they had just come outside.

"And just what are you talking about Nera?" Harumi whispered freaking her daughter out as she jumped into the air to get some sort of distance. Everyone was laughing while Nera was trying to calm her heart down. Soon enough after the Suzuha's car was packed with the equipment Nera and Hikari said they would head back to the house with their friends and so Harumi and Kagura drove back off towards their home. On the way the swim club was talking about the upcoming competition along with what they saw today with Nera and Hikari.

"So wait a minute, today was your first photoshoot and you were doing it underwater. ARE YOU INSANE!?" Gou cried out loud at Hikari she gingerly smiled. Nera was trying to calm Gou down but it seemed to have ill affect. "Look I know you only just learned to swim Hikari, but don't you think you're rushing into something too much?"

"Nope. Besides Nera and her parents were helping me all the way so I very thankful for that." Hikari retorted as she gave Gou a dead pan look signaling to Gou that she wasn't going to win the argument.

"Yeah and as a matter of fact, when we get back to my house you need thank my mom for helping you out underwater as well with keeping you safe." Nera added on as Gou seemed even more deflated causing Nagisa to laugh.

"Poor Gou." Nagisa cheered out.

"IT'S KOU! KOU, KOU, KOU, KOU!" Gou cried at Nagisa for him to say her preferred name and finally Makoto stepped in.

"Okay that's enough bullying Kou about her name Nagisa." Makoto told the younger blonde teen as he pulled him back.

"Thank you Makoto!" Gou hugged Makoto making him face palm himself realizing the situation he had once again gotten himself into and a few minutes later the swim club made it to the Suzuha household. Walking in the club saw different kinds of artwork and pictures hanging up on the walls and noticed that Nera was in a lot of them.

"Hey Nera I thought you said that today was of your first professional photoshoots." Makoto said making Nera nod. "So why are you in these photos then?" Makoto asked not knowing why.

"Remember when we first met I told you that I like to cosplay, well those were by my mum but they were just for me and my parents." Nera somewhat explained to the others while her parents were actually firing up nice little charcoal barbeque for dinner. There was fish, chicken, steak, vegetables and other things as well being cooked up. Everyone was enjoying themselves and Harumi and Kagura listened to their daughter's friends about things that had happened at swim practices or at lunch which made them laugh. A little while later Hikari had received a text message from her mother.

" _I need you to come home now. There is something we need to discuss."_ The message simply said. "Hey everyone I need to head home now, my mother needs to talk to me about something." Hikari stated as she grabbed her things but Harumi and Kagura quickly glanced at each other knowing something could potentially happen.

"Do you want either one of us to drop off?" Kagura offered Hikari but she kindly declined the offer and after telling everyone that she would see them at school Hikari wondered off home. Around fifteen minutes later the members of the swim club decided to leave as well. Nera went for a bath to sooth her body after an eventful day and soon went to bed to be followed by her parents and once again were talking about Hikari but about the usual thing this time. "Hey Harumi, did you by any chance notice how Nera and Hikari were somewhat acting today. Even though it was normal, it still wasn't… normal if you get what I'm saying." Kagura told her wife and she nodded in agreement.

"I think those two are starting to get feelings for one another. What makes it even worse is that I think they're scared to realize it." Harumi followed up Kagura. "Do you think that is what could be causing Hikari and her family problems?"

"There's no way that's I, it has to be something else. Anyway we'll leave it for now, night Harumi."

"Night Kagura." The two women gently kissed each other and went to sleep. However their daughter on the other hand was having trouble doing as she could only think of one thing. Hikari.

(Lemon Scene)

' _What is going on with myself. Today was fun and all but; I just wanted to stay with Hikari even longer. It's like my being is just craving and begging for her.'_ Nera began to think to herself as she removed her pajamas and began to mess around with her breasts. She kept pressing them together over and over again making her nipples hard, but then she felt something weird down towards her lower body. Since this was her first time she didn't know what to expect, and was it a shock when she inserted her fingers and moved them around in between her walls. _'Oh my god this is amazing, is sex is like. I want Hi- no; I need Hikari with me now.'_ Nera sped up and played with her breasts again, but then she had a crazy idea. She began to hold her breath and rubbed so hard with both hands that for once she was struggling to hold her breath in. _'Holy shit! This is incredible oh here it comes, I-I'm… I'M CUMMING HIKARI!'_ Nera mentally screamed as she breathed in that precious air and her body convulsed as her bodily fluids poured out. Once she was able to calm down she finally confessed something to herself. "I love you Hikari." Nera mumbled to herself as she passed out sleeping.

(Lemon Scene ends)

-Earlier on-

Hikari arrived home and found her mother once again in the lounge. Hikari was slightly nervous about what could come next, but she ignored it and went forward. "Hello mother."

"Hikari sit down, we need to discuss something." Hikari's mother pointed towards the opposite couch. Hikari sat down and stared at her mother who for once wasn't drunk. "Okay Hikari, apparently my company needs me to go on a trip and I might be gone for a whole month so I'm giving you a choice to…" She was cut off as she watched her daughter sway her head.

"I understand that you need to go away for work, but I can't miss school so I'm going to stay behind and look after the house if it's okay with you." Hikari told her mother who appeared quite surprised at her daughter's sudden statement. Not for the fact the she had basically finished what she was about to say, but the fact that she was interrupted and so slapped her daughter in the face. Hikari held her cheek in shock and stared at her mother as she had a huge scowl on her face. "Mother what did I do wrong?" Hikari asked only to be slapped again and again.

"DON'T YOU DARE INTERRUPT ME YOU BRAT! I DO EVERYTHING FOR YOU AND THIS IS HOW YOU REPAY ME BY BEING DISRESPECTFUL. DOES SCHOOL TEACH YOU THIS? NO! THEY TEACH YOU TO RESPECT YOUR ELDERS, NOW GET OUT OF MY SIGHT!" Hikari's mother pushed Hikari into her bedroom and slammed the door shut leaving Hikari crying on the floor. She kept crying and crying all through the night. She wanted to call Nera but she didn't want to bring her troubles into Nera's life; Hikari clambered onto her bed and hug a picture of herself and her father and cried herself to sleep. "Please help me Daddy. I wish you were here."

* * *

 **A/N Author's Notes:** I'm finally back with another chapter and I've kind of surprised myself with this chapter. Funny, strange, loving and hateful in the same chapter; I think it went well. I'll hopefully be finishing Asuna's Secret soon and the song I've picked for their performance from you lot telling me which is Derailed by Escape the Day. Once again positive and constructive criticism only and thank you for reading. Also I've changed my username as you could tell as well.

 **Eccentric Thistle**


	13. Chapter 13: Second shopping trip

Nera woke up the next morning with her face still somewhat red as all night she could only think about Hikari. She also remembered that she had to change her bed sheets whilst getting ready for school. She packed up her school and swim club essentials including another bag with some diving fins and weight-belts for Hikari to try out and walked into the kitchen for some breakfast to find her mom Kagura there already. "Morning Mom." Nera greeted her mom.

"Morning Nera, did you sleep all right?" Kagura asked not knowing of what happened the night before.

"Uh y-yeah it was good." Nera tried to hide any details within her expression and voice about "The Incident" to her mom.

"Well that's good to hear, but anyway I've got to get going now, Harumi has already left so make sure everything is off and locked when leave okay. Love you sweetheart." Kagura said placing a small kiss on Nera's forehead before walking out of the house to her car and driving off to work. That gave Nera the moment she needed to quickly change her bed sheets and after a few minutes or so the new sheets had replaced the stained ones as they were put in the washing basket for later. Looking at the time and knowing that she had to meet up with Hikari and possibly Gou, Nera made sure everything was switched off and all doors were locked before wandering off towards the beach to meet up with the other girl (/s).

 _-Earlier on-_

Hikari had woken up and hadn't seen her mother anywhere. She was kind of grateful that she already left after what happened the night before. As she walked into the bathroom, the hot water began to rain down from the shower with Hikari underneath. Washing herself she kept thinking about her mother slapping and pushing her around. She really didn't want to see it as abuse, but Hikari couldn't help but feel her heart was kind of breaking apart with what her mother was doing. However something else popped into her mind and that had a reverse effect on her feelings but it wasn't her mother… it was Nera. The photoshoot, the swimming lessons and just being there for her as a friend made Hikari truly smile. However she couldn't help herself but feel that she wanted more, more of Nera. Finally finished up in the shower Hikari went back to her bedroom to dry up and get dressed for school. After doing so Hikari once again found a note saying that her mother was now gone for a month and left some money for Hikari to at least eat somewhat. Seeing that made Hikari smile, not the money but the fact that her mother was gone for a small period of time. She had never felt something like that but it felt surprisingly good to her. Locking the house she made her way to the beach to meet up with the other girls.

 _-Present-_

Nera walked down to the beach and Gou sitting on the small wall waving to her. Walking up to her Nera noticed that Gou seemed a bit more cheerful than usual, almost as if Nagisa had infected her with some of his positive vibes. "Hi Kou, you seem a bit more cheerful today."

"Thanks Nera, I guess I'm still trying to convey and think about what happened yesterday. What the heck is in that bag?" Gou asked about Nera's bag containing the diving fins.

"I'll show you guys at the swim practice today." Nera stated as she kind of wanted to surprise the club members and witness their reactions.

"Ah okay then, where's Hikari she should've been here by now." Gou said as she and Nera looked around and soon spotted the girl in question running towards them.

"Hi guys, sorry I'm late, just had to make sure I had what I needed for today and paid too much attention to that and not the time. Should we get going now?" Hikari jokingly asked already knowing the answer as the three of them walked to the school. Shortly after arriving and walking into their classroom, the girls were talking about the photoshoot yesterday until the teacher came in and class began. As the day went on and on Nera and Hikari couldn't help but think about each other without the other realizing it. However Gou somehow picked up on this and wondered about what was going on.

As school finished and the swim practice began, Nera and Hikari changed into their swimsuits and donned their masks around their necks. However Nera remembered to bring her other bag with her to show what Hikari was learning next. The boys had just finished stretching with Gou looking on as the other two came up to the pool and noticed the bag with Nera.

"Hey Nera, what's with the bag?" Makoto asked which caught the other's attention as they pondered on what was inside.

"Well it has to do with the next part of Hikari's training. I figured she'll have to get used to these so better to start now I guess." Nera stated as she pulled two sets of the same diving fins and the weight-belts. "These are fins used for snorkeling, scuba and freediving. They help with propelling you through deep water, and these are weight-belts. Obviously with the intent of weighing you down in the water, really useful when scuba diving and ascending to the surface when freediving but also when diving down." Nera informed everyone and while Hikari and boys seemed fine with what was just said, Gou on the other hand was worrying about the weight-belts.

"Wait a minute, if you have weights on then won't it be nearly impossible for you to get back to the surface and not drown?" Gou asked now slightly worrying about Hikari's well-being.

"Kou its fine, you can adjust the weight by swapping the blocks for some lighter ones. It all depends on the person, how buoyant they are and what kind of diving they are doing. Don't worry because seeing as how I'm here nothing is going to happen to Hikari so are you ready to get started?" Nera asked her pupil/friend.

"Sure." Hikari simply said as listened to what as the boys got ready for the regime. Kou pulled Makoto over to side for small talk however.

"What's the matter Gou- eh sorry, Kou." Makoto said while correcting himself.

"I know Hikari will be all right, but seeing as how you're in the water can you just try and keep a small eye open for any problems please?" Gou asked the captain.

"Why? Nera is there, besides nothing's going to happen. You know Hikari is in good hands." Makoto tried to reason with the swim club manager.

"I know but… please can you just do it?" Gou asked again begging ever so lightly now.

"Okay I'll keep an eye out, but stop worrying. Nothing is going to happen." Makoto accepted Gou's request due to his good nature and soon jumped into the water to start his times.

Meanwhile Nera was explaining the important factors of using fins and how to look after them as well. Nera told Hikari to watch as she put on her fins and began to swim the length of the pool and back. "Okay so you saw that right?" Nera asked getting a nod from Hikari. "It's important to not use your knees as much when wearing fins and instead use all of your legs and hips to help with movement okay." Nera instructed Hikari as she put on the borrowed set of fins and weight-belt as slid into the pool. "Do you feel the weights feel in the water? It important to know that the deeper you go, you become more like a rock and the weights will help, but only a little bit. Now then let's this out. I'm going to be next to you and I'll watch how you kick in the water with the fins on." Nera stated as she and Hikari put on their masks and began to breathe in deeply and after a few breaths later they went under.

Hikari tried to use all of her legs and hips but couldn't help but bend her knees. However further along she got used to it and began to less of them and more of all her leg power. With that she saw how much faster and further she was going and soon reached the end of the pool, but feeling that she could go on Hikari turned around surprisingly Nera and started to make her way back. At around halfway she felt her lungs craved for air and then ¾ of the way back she surfaced. Calming herself down Hikari looked at Nera wanting to know what she thought. "So how did I do?"

"Better than I thought honestly but there were some things that we'll need to sort out. However we can leave that for now. Let's try again." Nera instructed as both of them headed back to the beginning, took a few deep breaths and went back under swimming the length of the pool and back. Thankfully this time Hikari started off better and after a few tries, she seemed like a natural. Practice soon ended afterwards and everyone went they separate ways apart from the two girls as they walked together. "You still don't have a wetsuit do you?" Nera asked Hikari still trying to figure what she needed.

"No I don't but thankfully with the photoshoot I'll be able to buy one soon."

"Okay but do you want to come to my house so you can try one on to so which size you'll need?"

"Yeah sure." The girls walked back to Nera's house and both of Nera's parents were in the kitchen. After saying hello to them they wandered up to Nera's room and Nera pulled a few of her spare wetsuits to see if there was one that would fit Hikari. With Nera's help Hikari was able to put some of them on, but found out that they were a little too big for her whilst the rest were too small. That meant she would have to go shopping to find one. After putting the suits away the girls got called down by Harumi as she once again had a possible photoshoot for them.

"Hey girls listen up, I've got a possible photoshoot again for you. This time it is sort of a futuristic mecha style mermaid. That means Nera you'll have to make the tails and help Hikari get used to wearing and using a monofin. Can you do that for me?" Harumi asked her daughter who simply nodded. "Great it might take a bit to get setup but once everything is ready it'll be great. Anyway do you want to stay for dinner Hikari?"

"I appreciate it, but I've got to get home soon. Homework to take care of and things to tidy up but thank you anyway." Hikari said as she grabbed her things. "Bye." Hikari said as she ran off home leaving Nera with her parents. Nera was busy trying to come up with different designs for the mermaid tails and possibly swimsuits as well. Dinner was very uneventful for the Suzuhas and after a while Nera went to bed shortly followed by her parents waiting for the next day.

 _~meanwhile~_

Hikari arrived home to an empty house. Seeing as her mother was away on a business trip again, Hikari had the house all to herself. She made herself some curry for dinner and decided to run a bath. Watching the hot water pour and fill the bathtub made was nice to her, but once the taps stopped and she got in, she felt even better. Hikari felt like she was in heaven and soon enough slip under the surface. Lying there she didn't have any problems to deal with, not the bullies. Not school and not her mother. Right now she was just… free. Coming up shortly afterwards Hikari had a thought pop up into her brain. Quickly getting out of the bath and running to her bedroom, she grabbed her green framed dive mask along with her phone and went back to her bath. In the water again she put the mask on and began to take in a few deep breaths as she wanted to time herself. In and out she breathed and taking in one more deep breath, she started the stopwatch on her phone and slipped underwater. Lying there Hikari was happy feeling at peace but after a while a slightly painful feeling was beginning to emerge. Knowing that she would have to come up soon Hikari pushed herself even more and a little while longer she broke the surface and stop the time. Regaining her breath she looked at the time recorded and was happy with herself as it showed two minutes and ten seconds. Hikari had finally broken the two minute mark but she wanted to do better but she would wait to do that with Nera's help. Finishing off in the bath Hikari dried up, put on her pyjamas and went to bed after cleaning up a little bit and making sure all the doors were locked.

The next day at school was uneventful to begin with as all three girls Nera, Hikari and Gou had their homeroom and separate classes before meeting up for lunch. During their conversation Nera remembered something she had to give to Hikari. "Hey Hikari, this is for you." Nera said handing over an envelope.

"What is it?" Hikari asked.

"It's your pay from the photoshoot we did. My mum already gave me mine and she said good work again Hikari." Nera told Hikari surprising her and when the turquoise haired girl looked at how much she earned, she was shocked even more.

"Thank You."

"No problem. Anyway Kou do we have a swim practice today?" Nera asked the swim club manager.

"Not today unfortunately, the boys all have things to take care of but we will have one tomorrow." Gou informed the other two girls.

"Okay then. So with that I was thinking about taking Hikari shopping for a wetsuit but do you want to come along Kou?" Nera asked.

"Uh s-sure I guess." Gou answered slightly confused and the girls made a plan to meet up at the gates at the end of school and head towards the aquatics shop. Shortly after school finished later that day the three of them met up and the school gates and walked to the train station to head into the city. Getting off the train Nera led the other girls towards the aquatics shop and once they found it, Nera wondered of to where the wetsuits were placed. Hikari and Gou followed suit. "Okay so this wetsuit for your freediving I take it?" Gou asked.

"Yeah it is. She let me try some of her suits on but none of them fitted me so that's why we're here. Also maybe some fins as well seeing as I kind of what to have my own set instead of borrowing from Nera every time, actually. Hey Nera?"

"Yeah what is it?"

If I have any money left over can you help me pick out some fins as well?" Hikari asked wanting Nera's advice.

"Sure thing Hikari. Anyway let's find you a wetsuit first." Nera said as the girls started to browse through them; well two of them did because did Gou didn't know what to look for. Nera and Hikari meanwhile found some suits for Hikari to try on. Some of them were still a little too tight for her to put on and it looked like they were getting nowhere; that was until one of the last suits Hikari tried on fitted her perfect. It was tight as a wetsuit should be but still loose enough to let her breathe.

"Hey guys I think this could be the one." Hikari said as she opened the door to let the girls have a look. The suit was black overall with some pink accents and collar and Hikari loved it. "So what do you think?"

"I think it really looks good on you." Nera told Hikari with Gou nodding her head in agreement. So after finding the wetsuit Hikari soon found a pair of green and black fins as she said it would go well with her mask and after paying for said things the girls soon made their way back to the train station for the train back to Iwatobi. Talking about school, practice and other things Gou didn't pick up on anything else between Nera and Hikari at the moment but she so desperately wanted to know if anything was going on. Getting off the train Gou started making her way back home leaving Nera and Hikari walking together.

"Thanks again for helping me out today."

"No problem Hikari. Are you practicing holding your breath at home?" Nera asked.

"Yeah I am and I'm listening to what you said and not forcing anything. Just doing it with how comfortable I am." Hikari replied back.

"Well that's good to hear. I'll see you tomorrow." Nera said heading up to her house.

"See you tomorrow Nera." Hikari said running off to her house as Nera walked in as the day was coming to an end.

* * *

 **A/N Author's Notes:** I'm finally back again with another chapter for one of my stories and it feels good to get this done. I don't really have much to say at the minute so I'll just leave you with the chapter. Only positive and constructive criticism allowed, no negativity.

 **BVBwillow**


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